Lizard Love
by Dragon-Ninjagirl
Summary: The Alpha Teens and their clones land in a strange culture in the swamps. While the others are prisoners, Tilian is introduced to a half-lizard girl who says he's playing an important role for her tribe. What's the secret of this prophecy? -COMPLETE-
1. Reptilico

_Okay ppl, here is the 1st chapter of a new story. A story of mine I like most ))) Yeah, it's 'bout Tilian...what did you expect? lol_

_Well, first of all: You start kinda in the middle of the story. Before this chappie there was a rather short "story" I left out coz I was too lazy to write it xD Nah, oj. Would have been a rather short chapter anyway. _

_The Alpha Teens follow a hint of Axel's father he had left in the journal. They take the A115 and follow the journal's description into the swamps. Of course the Mu-Team interferes and make the vehicle of the teens land (quite hardly...). As they crash down the A115 splits into its 5 parts and Alpha Teens as well as Mu-Team lose consciousness. (No major injuries, just to calm you down...lol, I'd never hurt Tilian! Well...not that much...XD) _

_Ahem...In the meantime a reptilian girl sees everything and takes a group of hunters with her to look after the "new dudes" in their territory. They find the teens and their clones and put them into the prison in their village. While they decide about what to do with the intruders the first guys in the prison wake up, not knowing where they are. And just a few moments afterwards this chapter starts. Enjoy!_

Reptilico

"You", the guard pointed at Tilian who sat in the corner. "Come with me." Tilian stood up and walked to the guard. The others looked at him. He knew that there was no sense fighting. They'd just catch him again and make him pass out for the next hours. The guard closed the door again as Tilian left. Darkness fell over the prison again.

"Great", said someone sarcastic in the darkness.

Three guards led Tilian through a small town of buildings made up of white stone. Lots of traditional clothed people here, looking like they lived in the last century, stared curiously at Tilian as he passed by. They had never seen something like him before, he guessed. They came closer to the centre of the town, a temple on a hill. It was like all the other buildings here, white.

In the great hall of the temple stood a throne, on it sat the leader of the clan here. The guards kicked Tilian's legs away so he fell to his knees. The guards bowed to their leader. Tilian looked at the old man on the throne, he looked wise and friendly, but Tilian disliked him. Just because he was a prisoner without reason. And that made this man not very likely to him.

"What is he?", asked the leader.

"A Reptilico", replied a guard. "Like the prophecy said, there were two. This is the second one we needed."

"Yes, right..."

"Um...sorry? What are you guys talking about?" Tilian looked at them, confused.

"You're not supposed to know that. At least not yet. Bring the other Reptilico here!", ordered the leader. A guard disappeared. Seconds later he came back, on his side a girl, clothed like all the others in the town. But she was different.

The upper part of her body looked like the one of a normal woman. But from her belly down she had green shimmering scales, her legs were covered with reptile skin, like her forearms and her shoulders. She had bright ginger hair, yellow eyes like a snake and an elegant face. Her top was dark blue, her skirt reached her knees. Tilian saw she had a reptile tail.

He stared at her for a long time, not realizing the leader watched him carefully and studied his face. "This is Eliza", said the leader and caught Tilian's attention again. He squinted and looked at the leader.

"What is that prophecy you were talking about? What is a Reptilico? And why am I here?", asked Tilian, perplexed.

"Eliza's gonna tell you."

She bowed to the leader.

"You'll stay here for the following time, you two have to talk a lot, I guess. But I can understand you want to run away, so..." He clapped his hands. A guard wrapped a silver shimmering rope around Tilian's waist. Then he gave the other end to Eliza who wrapped it around her own waist, tying a thick knot. The two were now connected, he wouldn't be able to escape with her hanging on his waist.

"That rope is made up of a special metal. It is flexible like a usual rope, but you won't be able to tear it." The leader waved with his hand, Eliza bowed to him again and walked away. Tilian followed her wordlessly, the rope between them was three meters long. So he had at least some free space.

"C'mon", she smiled. "I wanna show you something."

He looked at her back. Her hair reached the end of her shoulder blades, her scales began a hand wide under them. She didn't move her tail while she walked, she simply pulled it after her like it was dead.

"What is that-"

"Wait with your questions", she interrupted. "I know you wanna know everything, and I'm going to tell you, but not here. I will show you a place where we can talk undisturbed."

Tilian growled quietly and followed her. This day didn't start very well. It was actually really bad. He was tied to a girl he didn't know who brought him to a place he didn't know as well. He had something to do with a prophecy he didn't know and was something like a Reptilico, he didn't know what that was, too. He knew nothing. Just that he was stuck here, in the middle of the swamps.

"What's your name?", asked Eliza on their way. She led him out of the town, deeper into the swamps.

"Tilian", he replied.

"Like in Reptilian? Sweet name", she said and smiled slightly. "I'm Eliza, as you know, but you can call me Liz."

"Sweet name", he smiled.

After several more minutes of silence Tilian decided to do something. He was far away from the town now and perhaps would find the way back to Landmark City. He grabbed the silver rope and pulled on it, trying to tear it. It didn't work. Like he was trying to tear a two feet thick metal plate. Only in form of a very thin and flexible rope which laid around his waist now.

He started a try to run away. But after some meters the rope around his waist pulled him back, he fell into the mud and landed on his belly. Angry he wiped the mud out of his face and stared at Liz who stood behind him, smiling triumphantly.

"You cannot escape", she said. "Because you're not supposed to."

"Not supposed to? I don't even live here! I'm not supposed to be _here_!"

"How do you know?"

"Huh?" Confused, he stared into her face and stood up. "Because I gotta go back to Landmark City! Far away from here!"

Liz shook her head. "You'll have to learn a lot about destiny and its mostly not clear ways."

And this sentence caused an even more confused expression on the clone's face. "What are you talking about?!"

"You _must_ stay here", she explained. "Because of the prophecy!"

"What prophecy?!"

"If you follow me I'll explain it to you!"

"So why don't you explain it to me here, right now?!"

"This isn't the right place. Follow me, we can reach the right one in five minutes."

He growled and folded his arms. He didn't move an inch as Liz walked on. She turned to him and placed her fists on her hip. She tried to pull on the rope, but he was too heavy to get him away from there.

"Come on!"

"I don't want to." He grinned slightly as he noticed she was not strong enough to pull him with her. Liz sighed and walked slowly towards him. She looked deeply into his eyes with a look that made him feel strange. He couldn't do anything except for staring back into her somehow beautiful yellow snake-like eyes. She walked around him one time, he didn't look away, still staring at her.

Tilian didn't notice the rope on their feet wrapping slowly around his legs. As she stood in front of him again she began to smile evilly and pulled strongly on the rope. It tore Tilian's legs away, he fell backwards into the mud again. Liz laughed quietly as he glared angrily at her, wiping the mud out of his face. She offered him a hand to stand up. The clone took it, and pulled her into the mud as well.

Snapping for air Liz sat up and looked surprised at Tilian who simply grinned and stood up. Now he offered Liz a hand. She took it and he pulled her up to her feet.

"Are you coming now, or not?", she asked, looking into his face.

"Lead the way", he replied. She had won. It had been like a battle between them and like they had known the rules without even talking to each other. She had managed to play a trick on him, she had won. Now he had to follow her.

Liz turned around and went on, he followed her, pressing out a quiet sigh.

Minutes later the muddy ground of the swamps became harder, grass grew here. They seemed to be getting away from the swamps and entering a new area. The green grass reached their knees, trees grew everywhere and made it hard to see farther than five meters. After a long way through the thicket they finally reached a clearing. There was a big spring and a kind of small lake. It ended in a river.

"This is the place I wanted to show you", she said and pointed at the waterfall-like spring. Lots of rocks lay around it, building something like a bay. "This spring is older than everyone in the town. Some of us even say it is older than the history of the people here. The shaman says magic is around in the water and in the air, because this is the only place where there are no crocodiles."

"And what else is so special about it? You can find old springs everywhere in this area." Tilian looked bored at the quickly floating water.

"That's what I'm going to tell you now."

The two of them sat down on a rock close by the spring, Liz wrapped her tail around her scaly legs and looked at it for a long time in silence. Tilian followed her look but got bored of watching the water falling and falling and falling...His look went back to her. Carefully he studied her elegant looking face, her snake-like eyes and her fine features. She was so different from the girls he had seen yet.

Except her reptile skin and tail here. It was something in her face. It looked finer, more different. Although he stared at her for a long time he couldn't tell what it was. As Liz looked at him and smiled he squinted and forced himself to a smile. He didn't want to be there, he didn't want to stay there. He just wanted to go back home.

"Since ancient times my people lives here. And since ancient times the couples come here, drink some of the water and build up a special bond for the rest of their life. We usually celebrate it with a big ceremony here, afterwards the couples will stay together until they die. Nowadays it happens very rarely, because we don't have enough children around. Most of them die when they're young, only a few of them grow up and found families."

Tilian looked at her. "You mean they marry here? That's what is so special about this place?"

"This place is holy for our people", she smiled. "You'd understand if you saw such a ceremony." She sighed a bit sadly. "I've seen just one ceremony because I'm here for a year now."

"For a year? Where do you come from then?"

"The leader explained to me that they found me on their hunt. I was just lying somewhere in the swamps, not knowing where I came from, who I was. They thought the crocodile god sent me down here." She laughed a bit. "This is surely not true. Nonetheless, I was allowed to stay with them and became part of their civilization. They gave me the name Eliza and treated me like one of them."

Tilian cleared his throat as Liz said nothing for some time. "What is that prophecy you were talking about?"

"It is nearly as old as this tribe. The prophecy says there are two reptile creatures, bodies of human beings, skins like crocodiles, tongues and eyes like snakes. A male and a female creature that will stay with the tribe until one of them sacrifices himself for the other. Then, so says the prophecy, will resurrection come."

"Resurrection?"

"The prophecy is written in an old language, the shaman tried to translate it as well as he could. We're not sure about it. And about the interpretation either. We believe that when one of the reptile beings gives his life away to save the other one, our tribe will come to life again."

"But you live! You're not dead", Tilian said confused.

She laughed sadly. "True, we live, but what kind of life is it? We're dying slowly. Our children die when they're young, the adults become older and older and die some day. Without children we're lost. We hope that we will get better times when the prophecy comes true."

"Even though it could be you to give your life away?"

"I'm prepared to do it. I'd do everything to save the people who saved me." Liz looked into his eyes with a secure look.

"Oh, so you want me to get in danger so that you can save my life and die?" He frowned.

"No, it isn't that easy. That situation must happen itself and when we don't expect it. It has to be destiny", she explained.

"Uhu..." He stood up. "This is too freaky for me, I'm outta here."

"Wait!" She jumped to her feet. "You cannot go, you mustn't! We have to stay here till-"

"This is not my business", hissed Tilian. "And it isn't supposed to be mine."

"You can't go, I got the job to look after you", she hissed back. "Now it _is_ your business, if you want it or not. First I hadn't wanted it as well, but meanwhile I wish to die for this tribe."

"How dramatic", he spat. "I'll call you when I wanna have a depressing atmosphere around me."

"You don't understand!"

"And you don't understand that I don't want to be here", he growled. "I'll take the very first chance to get away from here!"

"Fine", she hissed. "I wanted you to stay here voluntarily. Now it seems like I have to force you."

"You weak creature cannot force me to stay here", he spat back. "I could simply knock you out and loosen that rope."

"Then do it", she said coldly and folded her arms. "Do whatever you like. No one is gonna stop you."

Tilian growled deeply and showed his snake teeth. Furiously he spat some of his venom at her, Liz took a step aside and the green paralyzing venom splashed on the rock they stood on. She raised an eyebrow, looking into his eyes. "Is that all you've got? Some green stuff?"

He wanted to attack her, she avoided it faster than he had assumed and stood suddenly behind him. Confused he whirled around, missed another time. She was weaker than him, but much faster. Now Liz stood next to him, her arms still folded in front of her chest. She looked at him with an expressionless face. Growling he attacked her another time, she ducked, he missed again.

The game continued this way, she enraged Tilian even more. After some minutes he stopped, a bit out of breath, panting quietly. Liz didn't seem to be tired. She took the rope around her waist with one hand and pulled on it as strong as she could.

Tilian felt that the rope had wrapped around his whole body during their fight, it wrapped now tightly around him, pulled his legs away and made him land on his back hard. He was tied up, couldn't move. And each movement he did made everything worse. Liz loosened the rope around her waist and threw the end on Tilian lying helpless on the ground like a turtle on its back.

Growling he struggled to get free. However, he gave up as he noticed it had no use. Liz stood over him and smiled slightly. "Don't mess with me", she said triumphantly. "Strength is not everything."

"Silly snake", he hissed angrily, having some wild curses in his mind, but not wanting to enrage her. Not in his situation.

Moments later some guards of the temple appeared around Liz, she told them to bring Tilian back to the others until she had talked to the leader. They lifted him and carried him back to the prison where the others were. They opened the thick door, threw him in and closed it again. Dust rose as he landed on the ground, he tried to get rid of the rope around his body.

"See who's back", laughed Firekat derisively. "Seems you had a funny trip."

"Haha, very funny", hissed Tilian. "I thought your claws can slice through metal, why didn't you escape yet?"

"We tried, but were caught again. There are too many guards around us, they use narkose arrows and gas to make us pass out. As we woke up we had been lying here again", explained King.

"Did I ask you?!" Tilian struggled to get free. Firekat laid her claw on the rope and cut it easily. At once the clone was free again. He muttered a quick _thanks_ under his breath and rubbed his aching wrists.

Axel, standing in the corner of the small room, his arms folded, leaning against the wall, looked at his clone and smiled derisively. "What happened?"

"They said something of a prophecy and that I play a role in it or so", replied Tilian. He didn't want to mention his time with Eliza. "Means we have to get away from here as fast as we can."

"Clever idea", said Lioness sarcastically. "And how?"


	2. Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes

"He didn't want to listen", told Liz the leader of the tribe. The old man rubbed thoughtfully his chin. Liz went on, "I tried to convince him, but he just thought of escaping as soon as possible."

"I see...he's coming from another civilization, and I can see in his eyes that he's more the type of a lonely hunter than a reptile living in groups. He cares for himself, we mean nothing to him."

"What can I do?"

"Show him our town, our tribe, our rituals. Show him everything and make him feel with us. If he could understand us better he'd be prepared to help us. And", he added as Liz nodded and wanted to leave, "moreover he's a guy. You're a woman, use that advantage, if necessary. Who knows, perhaps a wonder happens and he's gonna like you."

"Understood." She bowed to the leader and left the temple.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Alright, we start to distract the guards, then we escape. Before they know what's up we're gone", said Tilian to his teammates. Wrecka asked him what kind of distraction he meant.

"Think of something, rhino", spat Rayza as he noticed Tilian had no idea.

"We'll try a kind of distraction", said Axel to his team. They sat on the exact other side of the room, discussing their plan. Working together with the mutants was an option they didn't want to choose. And the clones thought the same way.

Suddenly the locks were opened and the door swang open. A girl stood in the doorway, red shimmering hair, a reptile tail and scaly legs, forearms and shoulders. She looked more like half a mutant. Tilian rolled his eyes annoyed. Not her again. He'd have been satisfied with any guard, _anyone_ except her.

"Seems he knows her", whispered Lioness to Axel and giggled quietly. Axel whistled quiet and jokingly. Tilian glared at him as he heard that and growled deeply. Then his look went to Liz again.

"What do you want?", he hissed, already enraged by her appearance.

"My leader wants you to come to the temple. Now."

Tilian sighed and stood up slowly. "And that's why he sent his little princess?"

Liz got angry. His behavior enraged her. "Come on, we haven't got all day!"

"Hey, calm down", he said, much too friendly. He walked out of the prison, following her up the "street" to the temple. It was more a path than a street, but the widest one in the town. So it was a street. The others in the prison looked at the two with confused looks, shrugged their shoulders and continued talking about their escaping plans. A guard locked the door again.

"No ropes this time?" Tilian was confused. There were no guards around them, just he and Liz walked up the street. Some of the people stared at him again, but continued whatever they were doing.

"Oh, right." She had a rope fixed to her belt, wrapped one end around her own waist, the other one around Tilian's. She knotted it as much as possible and wrapped it tighter than it had been before. It nearly hurt him.

"Too tight?"

"A bit."

"Good." She turned around and went on. Tilian growled quietly but followed her wordless.

It was late afternoon. The sun would set in some hours, but at the moment she burned down from the sky. Tilian sighed quietly. "Why can't you just let me go? I'd never bug you again."

"Because of the prophecy", she replied without turning around. "Like I said, I'd do everything to save this tribe."

"You'd even risk my life? Who said you're the one who's gonna die? It could be me as well. Does this tribe mean enough to you to risk another one's life?"

"If it is yours...yes."

"Wow, you're really friendly today."

"Thanks."

He looked at her back. The belt of her skirt hung on her hips, a bit above her ass he saw she had a tattoo there. A slight grin appeared on his lips and he oppressed a laugh.

"What's so funny?", she asked and looked over her shoulder.

"Nice tattoo", he said and cleared his throat.

"Oh, this isn't the only one", she replied. He studied her body, but couldn't see any other tattoo on her. He rose an eyebrow. Liz began to laugh. "You're not supposed to see the others, of course. But the one on my back..." She touched it shortly with her fingers. The tattoo showed two snakes, wrapped around each other, their faces looked at each other and their tongues nearly touched.

"It has something to do with the prophecy. You're gonna get this one as well." She smiled as she saw the expression on his face. "You can wear it wherever you like. You don't need to wear it where I got it."

"This is no good day...", he mumbered as they continued walking. At least the tension between the two had relaxed a bit. He was no more so annoyed, and she seemed to have calmed down in the meantime. On their way Liz stopped in front of a white house which looked like a workshop. She smiled at Tilian and went in, pushing the red curtain hanging in front of the doorway aside. Tilian followed her a bit curious and looked around in the house.

"Hello Juan", she smiled at a muscular guy who sat in the corner of the room. A woman with naked upper part of the body laid on her belly on a kind of table. Juan, the dark skinned guy, tattooed the woman's back. He smiled as he saw Liz.

"Hi Liz", he greeted. "Long time no see. What's up?"

"See who's here", she pointed at Tilian who forced himself to smile a bit. "The second Reptilico. Now it won't last long and our tribe will revive again." She smiled brightly and Juan seemed to be happy about this.

"Finally", grinned Juan. "The business is running bad. The old people already got lots of tattoos, there are no young ones who could need some. By the way, are you interested?" He looked at Tilian, lifted the needle in his hands a bit.

Tilian waved defensive his hands. "At the moment not, I-"

"I wanted to ask you whether you could give me some of your needles and inks. I'm gonna tattoo him myself", interrupted Liz.

"Sure", smiled Juan. "Right now or later?"

"Later", she replied. "First I show him our town."

"Then have fun!" Juan blinked at Tilian. "And don't worry, she's very talented, nearly as good as I am."

"Oh, then I have no worries at all."

He and Liz left Juan's workshop and stood on the street again. For the rest of the afternoon Liz visited some people she knew very well, Tilian was forced to come with her. He got to know some men who formed pans and pots out of wet soil, some women sew clothes, a few hunters came back with their prey.

"This is Anita", explained Liz as they went into a small house far away from the centre. A woman stood behind a table and prepared something to eat. She looked up and smiled as she saw Liz.

"Eliza! Long time no see! How are you, darling?" She hugged Liz happily. "Oh, and you found a new friend! How sweet." Anita smiled even more and looked at Tilian, studying his face. "He looks nice."

"You needn't say that just because you know me. He's the exact opposite of what he looks like", replied Liz. Tilian folded his arms and growled quietly, his look wandered through the room.

The old woman, about seventy, wore a long light brown coat and had grey hair which she wore in a long ponytail. She had lots of earrings and some tattoos on her arms. Anita looked at Tilian again.

"So I don't think there's hope for at least some more young children here, isn't it?" With a sad sigh she sat down on a chair. Liz blushed slightly and stared at the ground.

"I don't think so. I guess our species is supposed to die for this tribe."

The old woman nodded sadly. Only now Anita seemed to notice the rope the two were connected with.

"Prisoner? I thought the second Reptilico was supposed to be one of us and no prisoner."

"He doesn't want to stay here voluntarily", said Liz quietly and looked at him from the corner of her eye.

Anita sighed but began to smile. "Remember when we found you? You stayed here with me, even though you tried to escape in the first days. We locked you in your room until you finally understood we just wanted to help you. What about you?" Her brown eyes focused Tilian. "Why do you want to escape and turn against your destiny?"

"I don't believe in destiny", he hissed back. "And I don't belong here. My territory's Landmark City, not a swamp full of crocodiles."

"Strange to hear that from a crocodile itself", said Anita, her eyes narrowed. "I can see in your eyes that you wear three well known reptiles in you."

"Actually four, but well guessed." He grinned sarcastic and showed his sharp teeth.

"Ah, a crocodile and a snake as well. And a chameleon, right?" She saw Tilian's face and knew she was right. "Yeah...you should try to blend in here, like a chameleon. I bet all the people in that big city run away from you when you appear. Am I right?"

He growled and confirmed Anita's suspicion. She nodded slowly and closed her eyes. "You should be happy here. Did anyone run away from you yet? No, we'll treat you like one of us. You shouldn't refuse this offer."

"Don't be angry with him", interrupted Liz. "He's gonna learn everything."

Anita smiled at her. "Teach him each and every lesson, my dear. Oh, could you do me a favour, please? You know I'm not the youngest..."

"Sure", smiled Liz. Tilian rolled his eyes. That job waiting for them sounded like work.

"Can you take care of my grandchildren? They're one of the few children here in town...it would be a shame if something happened to them before their sixteenth birthday." Anita stood up. "You know them, Eliza. Lily and Eduard. They're up in their room, hopefully asleep. As you know, their parents...bad thing. Well, I'll be back in half an hour."

Anita took a stick which stood in the corner of the room and used it as a help to walk. She went out of the house, leaving Tilian and Liz behind. Liz smiled at the clone as he looked at her.

"Come on, the two are actually really nice."

"Actually", he growled. "I hate children."

"Nah, you're gonna love these two."

They went upstairs into a small room with two beds. Two three-year-olds sat on the ground and played with each other, laughing a lot. Liz came into the room, the two looked up and began to smile. She lifted the small Eduard and stroke through his hair.

"Hey little boy", she smiled. "How are you?"

"Lizzie!" He hugged her tightly.

"Look who came with me", she pointed at Tilian. "A so called stubborn idiot." She gave the boy to Tilian who looked at the child confused. Eduard hugged him as well. "Idiot!", he repeated Liz' words with enthusiasm.

"Now you taught him something", he growled and sat the child on the ground again. Liz grinned and knelt down next to Lily. She hugged her friend too and smiled happily. Then she crept over to Tilian who simply sat on the ground and folded his arms. She looked curiously at the new one with her big blue eyes. Tilian growled deeply and showed his sharp teeth.

Scared Lily ran to her bed and hid under it. Liz didn't look very pleased at Tilian, she glared at him. Then she pointed at the bed. "You get her back, if she's scared she usually stays there for hours."

He moaned annoyed and crept to the bed, looking under it. Somewhere in the darkest corner sat the small girl, looking frightened at him. "Oh, come on! I wasn't serious! I'm just a bit upset because that lizard girl Eliza wants me to do things I don't like. Don't act as if you didn't know what it's like to be forced to do something you don't want to."

She replied nothing. Tilian sighed and went on, "Hey, if you come out I'll help you tickling her", he grinned, "that sounds like lots of fun to me."

Very slowly Lily crept out of the shadow towards him. As she was close enough she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him carefully. He sat up, the child still hung on his neck like a human necklace. He took her cautious and sat her on the ground again.

"And now", he whispered into her ear, "we're gonna tickle Lizzie, alright? You come from behind. Understood?"

"Okay", smiled the girl and walked on her small feet to Liz. Liz herself stared surprised at Tilian who simply grinned brightly.

"I thought you hate children?"

"These are okay. As long as they don't scream..." Tilian sat down next to her and looked at Lily who had sneaked to Liz from behind. He blinked at her and at the same time the two attacked Liz and tickled her. Wildly struggling and laughing loud Liz tried to get free, couldn't breath because of laughter. Lily seemed to have lots of fun, Eduard laughed as well and joined his sister and Tilian.

"NO! Stop this!"

"Aw, can't breath, Lizzie?", laughed Tilian. "What do you think, Lily? Are we done with her?"

"Yah!", she smiled happily and clapped her hands, stopped tickling Liz. Tilian stopped as well, thankfully Liz sat up again and caught her breath.

"How many tattoos do you have, by the way?", asked Tilian suddenly.

"Three. Why?"

"Oh, I see the second one." Liz blushed heavily as she noticed her skirt was not where it was supposed to be. He could see a bit of the area where her tail began, and exactly around the beginning of her tail was another tattoo. Quickly she put her skirt in order again. He simply smiled.

"Where's the third one?" Curiously he studied her.

"Under my top", she told him. "But you won't see that in a million of years."

"There is the question if I want to see that", he poked out his forked tongue.


	3. Lizard Tongue

Lizard Tongue

As Anita came back the sun already set. She thanked Liz and Tilian for their good job, the children were asleep. Liz simply smiled and left with Tilian the house. She headed for the temple next.

"I'm gonna show you your quarter now", she said. "You'll sleep in the temple, the leader said we're going to share a room until we can be sure that you won't escape." _And I hope it won't be for the rest of my life_, she thought, looking at him. Of course he looked good, quite cute acutally, but his character...perhaps he would change, if not she'd have some problems with him.

In the temple she led him through some corridors, upstairs, and reached a large room. There stood two beds next to each other, a chest of drawers was to the right of the door, in opposite of it no wall, but a wide balcony with some columns. A few plants stood on it, like two chairs and a table. The balcony even had a roofing. Everything was white. The walls, the ground, the columns. The wood in the room was dark and set a contrast. It looked really luxurious in contrast to the other people's houses in town.

"Woah", was all Tilian could say as he looked around. From a prison to an awesome room like this; wonderful change. Liz smiled at him and went in first. She lit some candles on the table, chest of drawers and some torches which hung on the walls to get some light. Afterwards she sat down on one of the beds, Tilian followed her example and sat down on the other one.

Liz looked deeply into his eyes, again with that look which made him feel strange. The light of the candles let her hair shimmer slightly, the green of her eyes looked more like a fiery brown now. He squinted.

"What do you think now?"

"About what?"

"The prophecy. And our tribe."

"I see that your tribe is dying, but how shall it come to life again if one of us dies? Why should be one death good for everyone else here?"

"Because of the old magic in the words of the prophecy. I doubt it is wrong. I just want you to understand this."

"I have to sleep a night about that", Tilian said, avoiding her sad look.

She nodded, stood up and knelt down in front of him. In a slow and gentle pace she losened the many knots in the rope around his waist and freed him. Then she losened the end around her waist and laid the rope on the ground. Confused he looked at her.

"You know I could escape now", he said in a low voice.

"I know", Liz sighed. "It is still your decision. Perhaps we'd have never met, perhaps this prophecy isn't meant for us. Run away this night or stay here. It's your move. I can't force you to stay here and sacrifice your life for me."

She looked for a long time at him, then turned around and put off her top, laying it on the bed. Curious, but also nervously he watched her and stared at her beautiful naked back.

"Umm...Liz? I'm still here..."

She took the white clothing on the bed and covered her chest with it as she turned around, smiling slightly. "I know. But I didn't want to sleep in my dayly clothes." She turned her back to him again and put on the long white dress. After that she put off the skirt she still wore and laid her top and her skirt on the ground next to her bed. Tilian looked at his own bed. There laid some white clothing as well.

"Oh, sure, you get a nice dress and I only get some boxers?" He took the pants and looked at them. Liz came to him and lifted something else which laid under the pants.

"Here you got a shirt as well." She showed him a wide white garment.

"Oh", he took it, "cool."

"I'll be right back, just looking for something." She left the room through the door (there was only a curtain hanging in front of the doorway). Tilian shrugged and put off his suit, then changed into the new pants and shirt. They were way more comfortable than he had assumed.

Liz came back a few moments later. Tilian already lay in bed. She smiled, put out the candles and torches and walked to his bed to extinguish the candle on the table next to him. The clone was already asleep, his breath was calm, he had pulled the white blanket up to his chin. Liz placed a hand on his cheek and blew out the candle. He looked very nice when he was asleep.

The girl gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek and went to her own bed, laid down and extinguished the last candle. Silence fell over the room and soon she fell asleep. But Tilian was still awake. He'd been acting. For a moment he looked over his shoulder at Liz, her back was turned to him. Then he looked at the open balcony.

Nothing held him here. _Really?_, it went through his head. He thought about Anita's words. _We'll treat you like one of us, no one will ever run away from you_. His hand formed a fist. She was right. These people, especially Liz, treated him like...one of them, like a normal human being and no mutant. He decided to stay, perhaps he could escape later if he changed his mind.

Gently he touched the area on his cheek Liz had kissed. As he remembered it a slight prickle ran through his belly. _Not bad_, he thought, _really not bad..._ Some time later he managed to fall asleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Early the next morning Liz woke up. Her first look fell on Tilian's bed. It was empty. She closed her eyes and sat up. He had made his decision. Now she had to admit she had liked him. She was going to miss his sarcastic comments. Quietly she sighed and stood up, changing into her all-day clothes again. She laid the white dress on her bed and wanted to leave, but threw one last look out of the room to see the weather.

It was raining. The sky was dark and cloudy, the rain pattered hardly on the ground. She recognized a shadow standing on the balcony. Her heart stopped beating for a second. He hadn't left? He really stayed? "Tilian?" She walked towards him. The shadow looked up and turned to her, smiling slightly.

"Morning", he muttered.

Relieved she fell around his neck and hugged him. "You didn't leave", she smiled happily. He shook his head.

"I'll stay. For the moment. Perhaps I change my mind later."

"Sure", she smiled brightly, placed her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes. Only now she noticed he didn't wear his suit. He still wore the clothes he had worn over night.

"C'mon, put on some ordinary clothes and I'll show you the temple", she grinned.

"Sure." Tilian nodded and went to his bed, picking up his suit. As he put off the white shirt Liz looked at him, folding her arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Hm..."

"What's up?" He turned to her, looking confused.

"As long as you stay here you could wear something the other men wear as well. To blend in more, see? Just if you want to."

He sighed. "Since this morning is so rainy...give me some of that clothes, I need something to laugh about. Even if it's myself."

Liz face lit up a bit. "Wait a second...Actually there should be something in this drawer..." She opened the drawer and pulled some clothes out of it. Some of them were thrown towards Tilian. He caught one of the clothes and looked at it with a really strange look.

"Um...are you sure these clothes are for men?"

"Yeah, sure, why?" She looked up.

"'Cause this is a skirt."

Liz took the 'skirt' and studied it. Then she shrugged her shoulders. "This is usual for the men here." Tilian frowned. "What about some pants? I'd feel much better then."

"Let me see...nope, nothing. Here are no pants. And by the way, this is no skirt, it is a kind of toga. Try it on, should be your size. If it's still too long we can shorten it a bit."

She gave him the grey toga, and a dark blue, very long belt. Confused he stared at the clothes. "And how...?"

"Wait", she said, "I'll help you. Put off your pants first." Hesitating he followed her order until only his boxers were remaining. She nodded and grabbed the toga, began to wrap it around his waist. After she finished the took the belt and fixed the toga with it. Taking a step backwards she looked at him. The toga reached his knees. Unsecure he looked at her.

"Are you really sure it is correct?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"What about a shirt?"

"Sorry, but no one here wears a shirt. I don't have any." She shrugged, but smiled. Studying him from head to toe she chuckled. „Cute."

"Embarrassing", he replied.

She giggled. "I bet with the traditional cape and hat you'd really look funny. But at the moment you..." She paused shortly and looked at him, her face turned serious again. "You remember me of someone..." Tilian looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, I guess it's time to show you something." She left the room. He followed her down a corridor. On their way a tall guy passed them, dark haired, blue eyes. Only now Tilian noticed really every man wore such a toga. _It is a skirt_, he growled in his mind, _even if everyone wears it._ Liz greeted him very pleased.

"Hey Nathan", she smiled brightly. "What's up?"

Nathaniel, Tilian guessed it was his full name, stopped and smiled at Liz. "Hey Liz! Sorry, but I really have no time...the leader called me and the other hunters for what reason ever."

"Did something happen?" She looked worried.

"One of has been attacked by a crocodile...He died this night. I guess we're talking about our security again." He sighed. "Who's your friend here?" Nathaniel looked at Tilian.

"The second Reptilico", smiled Liz. "We found him yesterday. Now I wanna show him the prophecy."

"I see...do you understand each other well? If not, I'm afraid our tribe is going to die..."

"No, everything alright", she replied, still smiling. Tilian rolled his eyes slightly. In the near of this guy she acted like an amorous child. The way she spoke, the way she acted in Nathaniel's near confirmed Tilian's suspicion. "Really", said Liz again, as Nathaniel looked first at her, then at Tilian's not very happy face. The clone forced himself to smile.

"Oh...Well then..." Did he sound disappointed? At least it sounded a bit like that... "I gotta go now. The leader's waiting." Nathaniel ptted Liz shortly on the shoulder and left. Liz blushed slightly and looked at him until he was gone.

"Your boyfriend?", Tilian guessed grinning.

"No, he's a friend of Anita's family. I got to know him right after I came here."

"Seems you really like him."

"He's my best friend." Liz turned quickly around and went on. Tilian's grin became even wider. The girl was really lying at him, as if she presumed he couldn't sense what she felt. But he could. Every blind fool could.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Why doesn't he come back?", asked Axel and looked at the door of the prison. "They keep him outside since yesterday afternoon."

Firekat shrugged. "Perhaps they already killed him. Who cares?"

"We should", growled Rayza. "When we have to tell Mr Lee about that."

"We'll simply tell him some freaky people killed Tilian in a fight, and we're not really lying." Wrecka shrugged his shoulders.

Lioness looked at Axel. "Really wonderful how they care for each other." She sighed. "We still need a plan to get out of here. I get the feeling we're gonna stay here forever."

"Or they plan something with us", King folded his arms on his chest. "They don't trust us."

"Because they don't know us", explained Axel. "Human beings are usually afraid of the unknown. We had a crash with our A115 because of some mutants I don't want to call by their names now." He glared at the Mu-Team sitting on the other side of the room. "I guess they're afraid of us. And I don't think they know higher technology. They live here like..."

"Indians", finished King. Axel nodded.

"Man, I wanna get out of here! At least out of this prison to tell those dudes outside that we don't wanna hurt them!" Shark leaned against the wall. "Perhaps they'll let us go then."

"What's the plan now? Escaping or waiting?"

"Waiting", said Axel and looked at the door. "At least till we have a real plan."

**Please review! Reviews rule! xD And Axel is using his mental Jo-Lan powers to tell you...click on the review button...now...**


	4. Reptile Heart

Reptile Heart

"This is the prophecy." Liz and Tilian stood in front of a gigantic wall, full of paintings and old scripts. He stared at it, studied the whole wall, looked at the many pictures of reptiles, mostly snakes and crocodiles. Liz pointed at a picture that showed two figures, looking like human beings. They had green skin, red hair and reptile tails. Tilian recognized a man and a woman.

"Do you see the script next to the picture? It is the prophecy. Not very long, but important. And get a closer look at the man here." He did. And recognized himself with widened eyes.

"Do you know now why this prophecy must be true?" She looked at him. "Now that you wear the traditional clothes you look exactly like the guy in the picture. Except the tail. But this is a detail which isn't important. Important is the face, the colouration, the muster of the scales. It is all the same. See?"

Tilian nodded absent-minded.

"There's this light green area around your mouth, the muster on your forearms. And on your chest. You cannot see his arms on this picture, but on that one." She pointed at another one, at the bottom of the wall. Now the woman and the man stood in front of each other, holding each other's hands. Tilian and Liz knelt down to get a better look at them.

"What are they doing?", he asked curiously, and in a strangely quiet tone. This picture made him feel quite strange. He swallowed dryly.

"This story really happened. And it happens every 3000 years again, says the legend. Like now. The prophecy nearly got lost in that time, but we could translate it again. The first Reptilicos had been a couple, had loved each other. This picture shows their marriage."

"And this one?" Tilian pointed at the next painting. The woman laid in the man's arms, he knelt next to her on the ground. Around them were orange and red flames. A red bird flew above their heads.

"The prophecy came true. We don't know what exactly happened after it, but it is said that she had saved him from the fire and had given her life away for him. The red bird symbolizes a phoenix, a bird which dies in the flames and resurrects in the ash. It is the symbol of resurrection. It is said, the man cried three whole days and nights because he lost his love. Then he packed his things and left this place, taking her with him."

"What happened?"

"Never anyone heard of them again. But our tribe built up this town again after the big fire and it is said a golden age started. Which is over now, obviously. So his pain saved our civilization for some years."

For a long time both of them said nothing. "Do...we have to be a couple? To make the prophecy come true?", asked Tilian after a while. Liz shook her head.

"No. We don't have to. We can be friends, there's no rule we have to love each other." She stood up. Outside the rain still pattered hardly on the ground, it was cold somehow. Tilian shuddered as he looked at the pictures, but stood up after some time. Some lightnings began to flash, thunder growled. Except the sound of the rain and the thunder it was quiet in the temple.

"And it would be better if we didn't love each other", she explained, "It would be much easier to let go of the other one."

Tilian said nothing and turned around, walked away from her. Liz sighed quietly and stared for some moments at the pictures, but followed him after a few seconds.

xxxxxxxxxx

Time passed by. Hours turned into days, days into weeks. Tilian was now for one week and a half in the tribe and felt for the first time in his life home. He had forgotten the rest of his team in the prison. Something still wondered him. That Lee couldn't find them or didn't come to save them. As far as he knew each Mu-Team member had a tracking device in his suit. Lee just had to follow the signal.

But to be honest, he didn't care. He spent most of the time with Liz, she showed him more of the tribe, more of the life. To the leader's satisfaction Tilian didn't try to escape, but to blend in more.

Liz began to trust him. And she gave him more free space. He was allowed to walk around without her or a guard in his near, he could explore the town on his own. She felt he wouldn't escape. Because he liked the place. She saw it in his eyes.

One evening she sat down next to him on the balcony and followed his sight. He was watching the sunset. In the time Tilian had spent with the tribe he had become much calmer, his natural aggression had vanished. Liz never got to know the reason for his calm behaviour, but she liked it.

"Can I trust you?", she asked him quietly. He looked into her face and nodded. "If I told you a secret...would you tell it another one?"

He laughed. "Who should I tell the secret? You're the only one I really talk to."

"You became a good friend of Juan. He told me that he likes you."

"He's crazy", smiled Tilian. "And you are, too. Because you say you like me. However, in truth you just like me because you hope the prophecy will come true. And sometimes belief makes people to strange things."

"I like you because you're my friend", she smiled back. "And Juan likes you because he wants to convince you to get a tattoo from him." She laughed. Tilian simply grinned.

"Already got one", he told her. Surprised Liz looked at him. "It's not very big, just to test what it's like to be tattooed." He showed her his shoulder. There was a black, not very big tattoo of a snake.

"Nice", she smiled. "And it's the usual style of Juan. I bet he came up with the motive." Tilian grinned and nodded.

"He nearly forced me."

Silence. Liz sighed in a quiet tone and looked at Tilian again. "So you won't tell anyone?"

"Of course not. If you don't tell anyone that I got a tattoo." He poked out his forked snake-like tongue. Liz smiled. "Of course not."

"Tonight is a very special night. The women pick up a special plant which grows in the near of the spring I showed you. Then they go to the guy they love and give him the flower. If he accepts it, he shares her feelings. If not...well, you know what I mean."

Tilian nodded. "And who's the one you wanna give the flower?"

Liz blushed.

"Ohh, Nathan?" Tilian laughed quietly. "Good luck, girl, I saw him with another woman today."

"That's normal", lied Liz unsecure. "Hunters are very popular with girls, mostly the young ones." She turned around and wanted to leave. "I'll go now, wish me luck." She blinked at him. Tilian simply smiled.

After Liz got the plant she needed she walked slowly and thoughtfully to Nathaniel's house. She hid the flower behind her back, nervously she put her hair and clothes into an acceptable order and took a deep breath in. She pushed the dark curtain in front of the doorway aside and glanced in. There stood Nathaniel in the middle of the room. Smiling Liz went in.

As she saw who stood next to her friend she suddenly stopped. It was another girl. And Nathaniel held the plant she had given him in his hands. As he noticed Liz he looked at her.

"Liz! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I um...I-I just wanted..um...to look if you already found someone", she lied and hid the flower behind her back. She blushed heavily. "Just to make sure you...well, I think I'll go now, sorry, didn't want to disturb you."

Backwards she left the house and threw the flower on the ground after taking a few steps. She kicked it angry away. Tears came into her eyes. She had really liked Nathaniel and had hoped he'd share her feelings. But now she was too late. While tears ran down her face she walked slowly back to the temple. On her way she nearly bumped into Juan.

"Liz! What's up with you?" He saw the tears in her eyes and hugged her comforting. "Aw...come with me into my workshop, I'll make you a tea and you tell me what happened, alright?"

"Thanks, but..." She sobbed quietly and cried into her friend's chest.

"Did Nathaniel choose another one?"

She nodded as a reply and sobbed. Juan stroke her hair. "Calm down. You're still young, next year you'll have more luck. He didn't deserve you."

"Who then? There are no other guys I like and spend time with..."

"I know one." Juan looked at the temple.

"Tilian? Oh, come on, he's really not the one-"

"Why not? He likes you."

"How do you know?"

"My feeling told me. And my feeling has never been wrong." He smiled at her. Liz wiped the tears out of her face.

"But I really thought Nathan liked me", she whispered and looked at Juan.

The man cleared his throat. "Actually he did, but since the second Reptilico is around you most of the time...he thought you and the other one were together, like the very first reptile beings. He was very disappointed about that, so he chose another one, I guess, 'cause he expected you to go to Tilian."

Liz sniffed. "What? Does it really look like we're a couple?! Is Nathan really that silly to believe it?!" She got angry. And began to curse the day Tilian arrived here. If he hadn't been...everything would be different now.

"Everyone believed it", said Juan calmly. "But it really isn't his fault."

Liz walked away. "No, of course not." She hurried back to the temple and into her room. Tilian still stood on the balcony and looked into the darkness. He had based his forearms on the rail. For some time she stared at him, angry about that only his presence had destroyed everything. Enraged she walked towards him.

"Umm...did it work?", he asked stupidly as he turned to her. When he noticed her face he wished he hadn't said this.

"Nothing worked!", she snapped, he saw the tears in her eyes. "Just because of you! Because of you everything went wrong! Nathaniel thought we were together and chose another girl!" Now her tears came back and streamed down her cheeks. "And do you know what? He had liked me. But because of you he chose another one!"

"Calm down, I didn't know I-"

"Of course you didn't know", she spat and paused for a moment. "I don't want to see you again. Leave, escape like you've always wanted! You won't be the one I'll throw my life away for! Would be a waste."

He looked seriously at her. "Alright. If it's your wish I'll go at once." The clone walked away from her, picked up his old suit and wanted to leave. In the doorway he stopped and looked at her one last time.

"Goodbye, Lizzie", he smiled weakly and was gone then. Liz breathed out slowly and based on the rail of the balcony. Crying she sank to her knees and buried her face in her skirt. Her hair fell into her face, but she didn't matter. She wanted to be alone.

Tilian walked straightly to the prison. He stopped in front of the guards. "Eliza sent me. She said you can let the prisoners go." The two guards looked at each other, nodded then and opened the door. They gave Tilian a torch as he went in.

"Tilian!" Everyone looked up as they saw the clone standing in the door.

"Come on", he said. "I'll bring you away from here." At once everyone stood up and followed him into the night. After they had left the town Tilian led them directly to some boats.

"Here, take these boats and go back to Landmark City. I saw the A115, it is simply destroyed and won't drive. This is the only way to get away from here." He gave Axel the torch to light the torches on the boats.

"What's with you? And why do you wear a skirt?" Firekat frowned.

"Traditional clothes of the tribe here", he replied seriously without showing any sign of embarrassement. "I'll come later. Have to finish something first. Go home, I'll come to Lee's base then."

Axel gave his clone the torch back. Tilian simply nodded and wanted to leave. "Hey", said Axel. "Thanks."

"Forget this, Manning, when I'm back we're enemies. At the moment I've got a neutral attitude towards you and your friends. Who knows how long this will stay", growled Tilian.

"Sure." Axel got into one boat with his teammates and cut the rope. He and King took the rows and rowed away.

"When are you coming back?", asked Firekat unsecure.

"Later, I said. Leave now before someone notices you're gone without Eliza's permission. I simply lied."

"Alright, we're outta here." Wrecka and Rayza rowed and Tilian waited at the bank until he couldn't see the light of the torch anymore. Then he turned around and threw his torch into the swamp. With a quiet hissing sound it extinguished in the water, a trail of smoke rose. Quietly he sneaked back into the town. Before he left he wanted to ask Juan for one last tattoo.

In front of the workshop he stopped, he heard voices inside.

"You really don't know where he could be?", asked Liz' voice. She sounded quiet, and pleadingly.

"No, sorry, he didn't pass my workshop. What happened?"

"I...said something silly and now he left", she whispered. Tilian got curious.

"Oh, you don't seem to be very lucky with the men today", sighed Juan and embraced her comforting. "Don't cry", he said as she began to sob quietly.

"I..I was just so angry that it didn't work today", she told him. "I thought it was his fault, so I sent him away...A-and now he's..."

"It wasn't his fault at all. You cannot blame him for what Nathan thought. Perhaps it is a sign of destiny, that you are not meant for Nathaniel but for the new one." Juan smiled a bit. He lowed his voice, "You know I told you he likes you."

"Maybe he just wanted to win my trust to escape after some time", she sobbed. "And I really thought I could trust him."

"You could trust him. He didn't leave without your permission. You told him to go, so he did."

Tilian bit his lower lip. He could leave, he could stay. It was his decision now. No one would be angry with him if he left. But Liz would be sad, for what reason ever. However, he could stay here and try to make everything alright to her again. He cleared his throat.

"Actually", said a voice, "I didn't leave. I'm still here, ain't I?"

Liz looked up. Her face was red from the tears she had cried, it was wet, still some tears ran down her cheeks. "Tilian", she whispered that quiet that he couldn't really hear her. Immediately she ran towards him and fell around his neck, hugging him tightly. She laid her head on his shoulder and continued crying. Not really knowing what to do he ran his hand down her hair.

"I-I'm so sorry, I...didn't know what I said", she stuttered. "Because...and Nathan...but you...I mean, we - so I-I-...I thought-"

"Shut up", he simply said. "You're stuttering useless stuff." She looked into his eyes, he smiled.

"You're not mad at me?"

"Why should I? You just allowed me to go, so why should I be angry?"

"Because..."

"Nah, forget it." He grinned. "I just came back because you still owe me a tattoo."

Liz face lit up at once. She looked smiling at Juan who gave her a small bag. "There's everything you need. Ink, needles, pieces of clothes." He laughed into his thick beard. "Have fun."

**Chappie number four :)) It seems there aren't lots of ppl sharing my interest in this story...well, I'll update if someone asks me to do so x) And if you think this story is crap, tell me and I'll delete it.**

**Be safe! **

**Dragon-Ninjagirl**


	5. Crocodile Scale

Crocodile Scale

Back in the temple in their room Liz laid the bag on a table and unpacked it. "Where do you want it, by the way?", she asked as she proved the needles.

"Um...where you have it too...if it's no problem."

"Alright." Liz stood up, took a chair and placed it next to his bed. Then she lit the candles in the room to get more light and laid the needles and the ink on the small table next to the bed. She fetched a bowl of water for the pieces of clothes.

Tilian lay on his belly on the bed, his head on the pillow. From the corner of his eye he looked at Liz preparing everything. "I really hope you don't have cold hands", he hissed amused.

She laid a hand on his back. "Is that cold for you?" He shook his head and closed his eyes. Moments later Liz began to tattoo him, the same motive she wore. He could feel a slight prickle in his belly when she touched his skin. Juan had been right. He liked her. A lot.

"You're so quiet", she said after a while. "You can talk if you like to."

"Don't know what to say", he replied and smiled slightly. "Oh, by the way, I let the prisoners go." For a moment the needle stung stronger into his skin than usual. Liz stopped and looked at him.

"You did what?"

"Don't worry, they won't do anything to us. Moreover they're gone now, they took two boats and left to Landmark City."

"I hope you're right. Who knows if they're gonna attack us. I don't trust these animal-like things." She continued.

"Hey, I am one of these animal-like things", he protested. Liz smiled.

"They are different. They're creepy, you are...the exact opposite."

"What is the opposite of creepy?"

"Cute."

After some time she finished and cleaned her hands because they were black of ink. "Stay there for some moments, it has to dry a bit. I don't want to risk a blurry motive", she said. Tilian nodded sleepy. While she had made the tattoo he had almost dozed off. Liz packed everything back into the bag, smiled slightly and sat down next to him on his bed.

She placed a hand on the two snakes on his back and looked at them for some time. She didn't know why, but somehow something was different now. It was still the same motive, but she understood it differently. The two snakes stood for the two reptile beings, that was sure. But that they were wrapped around each other and their tongues nearly touched...?

She thought about it. The first reptile beings had been in love with each other. So perhaps it was what the snakes should symbolize; their love. Liz's finger ran down the body of one of the snakes. Tilian's muscles shuddered under her touch. She looked up, was pulled out of her thoughts. Maybe she was really meant to be with him? But just because of that prophecy...? She shook her head.

"What's up?" He looked at her. "Something wrong?"

"No, everything alright. I just controlled the motive." She smiled at him, a bit weak though, and stood up. Before Liz could walk away he took her hand and held her back.

"Wait", he said, "I...am sorry for what happened. That Nathaniel thought we..." He stopped, ran out of words.

Liz shook her head. "No, you don't have to apologize. It was all my fault. But we should forget this now. It is quite late, I'm gonna go to bed."

Tilian nodded slightly, stood up and blew out the candles in the room while Liz changed her clothes. From time to time he caught himself glancing at her, then looked quickly away again.

"Where do you come from, by the way?", he asked as he sat down on his bed again. Liz turned to him.

"I told you I don't know. I have no memory before they found me." With a disappointed look she put on the white dress and took the earrings out of her earlobes. She laid them on the table next to her bed. A pair of green snake-like eyes focused Tilian again.

"Where do you come from? I bet you know about it. And you know why you're a reptile." She sat down on her bed, looking straight into his eyes.

"I'm from Landmark City, you know, the big city far away from here. I bet...um...three days by feet or so. With a boat only one."

"Yeah, I saw its outskirts once. But I've never been there before." She squinted. "Go on."

"Actually I wouldn't exist...Mr Lee took some DNA of one of the prisoners you got to see, and created me with it. He put some reptile DNA into me as well, that's why...I'm a kind of reptile now."

"DNA?"

"Difficult to explain...it is a part of you, something which contains all information about your body."

"So you have no parents?"

Vehemently he shook his head. "Of course not. I'm an experiment, if you wanna call it this way." He smiled a little bit. "But I'm not sad about it. I've been a child for...I dunno, an hour of my life? Within a year I became what I am now. A nineteen-year-old who's in truth only one year old."

Liz smiled at him. "It's nearly the same with me...my life started with eighteen, I have no idea what happened before...Wait, you're only nineteen?"

Tilian shrugged and looked surprised at her. "Yeah, why?"

"Oh, nothing...I thought you were some years older." She laid down and pulled the cover up to her chin, yawning quietly. "Night." Tilian blew out the last candle and laid down too. Meanwhile it started raining again. A thunderstorm came closer, some lightnings flashed.

"Good night", he replied with a yawn and closed his eyes.

xxxxxxxxx

"What do you mean with _Tilian is coming later_?!", asked Lee enraged, walking up and down in front of the clones which had just come back from somewhere he didn't know.

"He said he wanted to come a bit later because he had to do something", repeated Stingfly.

"Got a date with his girlfriend", whispered Rayza to Firekat and giggled quietly. Firekat oppressed a laugh. Lee growled at them.

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing", said Rayza quickly and smiled at him.

"Which girlfriend?", asked Wrecka confused who still didn't get the joke. Firekat stepped hardly on Wrecka's feet, she didn't want him to tell more. If Lee found out about this...

"Girlfriend?" The scientist pushed his glasses back on their former place. They had slided down his nose a bit. Now he looked at the clones, expecting an acceptable answer.

Stingfly sighed, realizing it had no sense to lie at Lee. Wrecka had said too much. "Tilian's", he said.

Lee began to laugh quietly, obviously amused. "Which girl would fall in love with a clone? Really, this isn't funny. I want to know where he is!"

"He obviously stayed in the town we told you about. With that girl!"

"What girl?" Lee's eyes narrowed.

"She's half a reptile, red hair, green eyes and a lizard tail."

"That's impossible...", whispered Lee, turned around and continued walking up and down, deeply in thoughts.

"It's the truth", told him Wrecka.

"Go into that town and bring me Tilian _and_ the girl. Force him if he doesn't want to come back voluntarily! The last thing I could need is one of my clones falling in love. One thing I forgot to take care of."

xxxxxxxxxx

In the night Tilian woke up. It still rained, thunder growled quietly. The thunderstorm was far away, nonetheless some lightnings flashed from time to time. The rain still pattered hardly on the ground, cold wind blew into the room. He froze a bit. But there was something else that had woken him. A sound coming from Liz' bed. He sat up and listened.

She had turned her back to him and was crying quietly. He could hear her sobs and sniffs through the sound of the rain.

"Liz?", he asked sleepy. She suddenly stopped. "What's wrong with you?"

Liz didn't reply and kept quiet. Tilian sighed toneless and laid down again, watching her back in the darkness. The sobs had stopped, she had stopped crying. Feeling slightly uncomfortable he closed his eyes again and fell asleep just minutes later. Liz turned around and looked at him through her watery eyes. She wiped the tears out of her face and sniffed quietly.

Again she had thought about Nathaniel. She couldn't forget him, and the bad surprise she had seen this evening. She had liked him, to see him being together with another girl now ached a lot. Tilian wouldn't be able to understand her. And she didn't want to talk about it. With a shudder she pulled her cover up to her nose. But she still froze and shook.

"Till?" Liz sat up, her eyes focused Tilian's silhouette in the darkness. He didn't reply, was asleep.

She got out of her bed and sneaked over to him, then bent down in front of him. After some minutes of hesitating she pulled his cover away and laid down next to him, clinging her back to his belly. The warmth of his body comforted her and made her feel safe. She took his arm gently and laid it on her waist, pulled the cover up to her chin and breathed out slowly.

This was much better. She could feel his warm breath in her neck, his chest rose and fell in a regular rythm. She felt his soft skin touching hers. She didn't freeze anymore. And could finally fall asleep after some time.

The next morning Tilian woke up, feeling quite warm. He noticed someone lay next to him under his blanket, clung close to his body, still asleep. Tilian smiled slightly and laid down again, her soft hair touched his face. Liz moaned quietly and turned around; she lay now with her face very close to his own one. Their noses nearly touched. Liz seemed to be still asleep.

Tilian got nervous. His heart beat that hard that he was afraid she could hear it. "Liz?", he asked in a low voice. She wasn't awake yet. But she was somewhere between waking up and a deep sleep because she moved a bit closer to him. He stopped breathing as Liz laid an arm around his neck and clung even more to him.

Then he decided to enjoy it simply. He breathed out slowly and closed his eyes again. Just moments later something soft touched his lips. Confused he opened his eyes and realized Liz kissed him, without even noticing it. She was still asleep. With a surprised, fast breath in he moved backwards. Suddenly the bed ended, he noticed it much too late and landed hardly on his back, pulling the cover away from her.

Liz sat up alarmed. "Whazzup?", she muttered quietly, looking confused around. As she saw a pair of feet which lay on the bed she crept to the other side of it and followed the legs like a track. They belonged to Tilian lying on the ground, rubbing his aching head.

"What did you do?", she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I...", he didn't know what to say. "...fell out of the bed."

"I see that", she laughed. "Why?"

"Nothing special." Moaning he sat up and closed his eyes in pain. "Oh man, guess we need a bigger bed, huh?", he joked, grinning. Liz shook her head.

"Nope, I have no prob with mine."

"Why did you leave it then?"

"I-I...I froze", she said and cleared her throat, getting out of his bed quickly. Tilian stood up and changed his clothes, then turned around as Liz got dressed and folded his arms, sighing quietly. _Girls_, it went through his head, he rolled his eyes.

"I've got a meeting with the leader later", she said as she finished. "You're not allowed to come with me. But Juan wanted to see you anyway."

"When is that meeting?"

Liz looked at the sky. "Before midday. Usually he sends a guy to call me to-"

A small, red-haired guy popped his head through the curtain. "Eliza?", he asked. She whirled around and smiled at him. "The leader is calling for you. He decided to hold the meeting now."

"You see what I mean?", she said in a low voice to Tilian who simply nodded. The small guy disappeared again.

"Good that he didn't come half an hour earlier", chuckled Tilian and oppressed a laugh. "He could have been thinking some weird things if he saw us together in one bed."

Liz' head changed colour at once, from normal to tomato-red. "You should go to Juan now", she said, "I have a meeting."

"Aye, mylady!" Tilian saluted and made his way out of the room. Liz sighed but smiled and went to the leader in the main hall of the temple. In the meantime Tilian left the temple, walked straight down the street and went directly into Juan's workshop. No one was in. Cautiously Tilian looked around.

"Um...hello?"

From under a desk he heard a loud sound, a curse of pain and suddenly Juan's face appeared behind the table. He rubbed the back of his head in pain. "Oh, hey Till. What's up?"

"Liz told me you wanted to see me...?"

"Oh, right, sure..." Juan stood up and began to look in several drawers for something. He chuckled. "She really had to think of something to get rid of you during the meeting", he explained. "Because you two spend each and every second with each other. Well, nearly."

"Why didn't she tell me to leave then? For an hour or till her meeting ends?"

"Because she knows you're very curious and would try to spy", he poked out his tongue.

Tilian folded his arms on his chest and snorted derisive. "As if."

"Curiosity is nothing bad", said Juan. "But it could be dangerous sometimes. And you'd really risk your head if you'd spy. Our leader let someone kill who listened to a very secret conversation between him and his advisors. That was really not funny. Even you could lose your head, although you're a reptile being. He doesn't make fun out of it."

"Wow, he seems to be really friendly."

"I don't complain about it. No one here does. He's a wise leader."

"Wise enough to kill a guy in times of a too little number of children?" Tilian laughed derisive. "Great, just so your tribe will survive."

"Actually we have more men than women here." Juan leaned against the wall and based his ellbow on a shelf. "That is the problem."

"Is it the reason why you treat the women so well? Because you simply need them?"

"Actually yes, but men usually need women", Juan grinned, "Who else should look after curious guys like you?"

Tilian growled something but didn't reply. "Oh, I got something for you." The man went into the room behind this one and came back with a red flower. It looked quite rare and exotic. He winked as he gave it to Tilian. "As a gift for Liz."

"From you?"

"From you, of course", laughed Juan. "She didn't tell you about that ritual?"

"Nope."

"It is quite old. For us flowers are symbols of love. That's why the women give the men they chose a special kind of flower. One evening in a year. But the men are allowed to pick a flower and to go to _their_ girl when they want, in case some singles are left."

"Ohh, wait! You want me to give this plant to Liz?! No way!" Vehemently Tilian shook his head. "Moreover...she doesn't like me that much."

"Oh, sure", the man smirked. "That's why you slept in the same bed with her this night."

"How do you...?!" Against his will he felt the heat coming up in his face. He looked away, narrowing his eyes.

"Remember the guy who called for Liz? He's my nephew. And he came an hour before and saw you two. He came to me and asked me what to do and I told him to let you sleep. As he looked after you a second time you were awake, obviously."

The clone growled embarrassed.

"You should really go to her, Tilian. Trust me."

"And what if she's gonna refuse?"

"She won't." Juan smiled.

"Why can you be so sure of that?" Still confused Tilian stared at the red flower in his hands.

"A lot of young men came to me and asked me the same question. Just like my best friend did lots of years ago. Y'know what? Now he's married and has a beautiful daughter."

"And...?"

"Every guy had something in common with you. They were all in love."

"Maybe _they _were in love, but I'm not. Not at all." He shook his head. "Definately not. Can't be."

Juan chuckled. "Sure..."

Tilian turned his head away and folded his arms.

"It is more than just obvious. That you like her is no question. The first day you spent with her you simply growled and ignored everything around you. By now she could convince you that far that you even wear our traditional clothes. You should have seen her face when she told me about it! Really happy, that you finally decided to stay and so on."

"Go on."

"When she's alone here she only talks about you." The old man smiled and based his hand on the desk.

"Really?" The clone raised an eyebrow. "What does she tell you about me?" Now he was curious.

"Well...she told me you pull faces when you're asleep. Or that you have_ beautiful red eyes that can be so deep sometimes_... And you struggle to put on your toga every morning. She said you still don't get how to do that." Juan almost laughed. "Ohh, and she said you have a cute ass and-"

"YEAH thanks, I got it!" Blushing slightly Tilian scowled. "Anything else you wanna tell me?"

"She trusts you. And trust is something very important."

**Thanks to Haylie Winchester and musamelody who reviewed! You're great guys! -hugs- **

**Tell me if you liked this chapter or not :) Thanks! Please review! (although this story is gettin a little bit fluffy xD )**


	6. Chameleon Claws

Chameleon Claws

An hour later Juan could convince Tilian that far that he really went out of the workshop with the flower in his hands. _I must be a real fool that I do this_, he sighed in his mind. He presumed the meeting was over because Liz had told him it wouldn't last long. So he made his way to the temple, swallowed dryly and with each and every step he felt his heart beating harder.

_What am I actually doing here? _This question was stuck in his head. Like the nervousness in his chest. _What if she refused? On the other hand...if she accepted? Or not? Or...? _He took a deep breath in, trying to get rid of these thoughts. _See what she made out of me. A weak reptile pleading to her feet to accept the flower_, he growled.

As he entered the temple he headed for the main hall. He went in and saw Liz and the leader standing in front of the throne, still talking. Quickly Tilian hid behind a column, remembering Juan's warning. _He would even kill you if he discovered you spying_... Nonetheless the clone was curious about what the two were talking about. He risked to sneak a bit closer, to hear their conversation better.

"But wandering away from here is no solution", Liz said, nearly pleading. "Our tribe has been here for lots of thousand years now! We can't go."

"But if we don't go? What will happen to us? We'll all die without children. Maybe we meet another clan and can become one tribe", replied the leader. "What's with the prophecy, by the way? Could you convince the other Reptilico?"

"Yes, he's going to stay here."

The leader smiled. "Ah, as far as I see you used your female 'weapons', eh? Well, it was his choice. Staying here voluntarily or being forced by you. Now it is a kind of mix...you seduced him into staying here." He smirked.

"I-"

Liz was interrupted by the leader. "I bet he's determined to do everything for you. And you are determined to do everything for this tribe. Perfect conditions for the prophecy." A bit happier than befor he sat down on the throne again.

Suddenly there was a sound in the doorway. Liz whirled alarmed around. No one was there, but a red, exotic looking flower lay on the floor. Someone had dropped it only a second ago. She looked out of the door and saw Tilian walking away in a quick pace. He must have heard the conversation!

"Excuse me", she bowed to the leader and ran after Tilian, picking up the flower on her way.

"Tilian, wait!" She reached him finally. "Did...you hear the conversation?"

"You can bet on it", he hissed back, not even looking at her.

"Where are you going?"

"Back home, I have nothing that holds me here."

"But you cannot go!" She placed in his way, but in a different way than she had done the first day he had spent there. She held the flower in both of her hands; looked pleading up into his eyes.

Tilian bared his teeth and growled deeply, his hands formed fists. "You should have thought about that earlier, before you used my trust", he spat, walked past her and left Liz standing alone in the street. She didn't follow him. After he had disappeared between some trees she sank slowly to her knees and stared at the flower. He had loved her, really loved her. Otherwise he wouldn't have brought her this plant.

Liz sat for a long time there, until someone placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, Anita smiled weakly at her. "Come on, darling. You shouldn't sit here and cry because of a man. Let's get into the house, it's gonna rain soon."

"No", she whispered and shook her head. "First I have to find him..." She stood up, her grip around the flower tightened. She ran after Tilian, following the tracks in the muddy ground. The grey clouds on the sky became thicker, darker, and after some time rain started again. Thunder growled after bright lightnings had flashed. Liz didn't care, she wanted to find him first.

Meanwhile in the temple the leader looked worried at the entrance. "Jake", he said to a guard. "Take six men with you and get after them. I don't want the Reptilico to escape because of something like that. Just to be sure."

Jake, the guard, nodded, and told six men to come with him. They wore long lances and took some of the metallic ropes. Just in case.

xxxxxxxxx

The rain took Tilian's sight. He couldn't see where he went, in the darkness every tree looked like the one he had passed before. And his reptile eyes were useless, the rain blurred his sight. Growling angrily he made his way through the thicket, following a narrow path between the trees. Soon he reached a river which came from the spring Liz had shown him.

He left the path, sat down on a large grey rock under a few gigantic, old trees. Here it was at least a bit dry. Nonetheless rain came through the leaves and fell down on his head and shoulders. Tilian had to wait for the rain to stop, or he would get lost in the swamps. It was useless to wander around like a blind snake. He wouldn't find the way back.

Through the rain he thought to hear steps. From the corner of his eye he saw a dark shadow standing in the rain, obviously looking at him. As he recognized this person he growled in annoyance and anger, turning his head away from her.

Liz climbed the rock carefully and knelt down next to him. Not knowing what to say she looked down at the red flower in her hands, then at Tilian again. She took a deep breath in. "Did you hear the whole conversation?", she asked cautious.

"Exactly the part I needed to hear", he hissed. "Or else I wouldn't have noticed your forked tongue is really the one of a reptilian liar."

"You didn't listen to everything! I was cut off by the leader!"

"So what did you want to say, huh?! _Yeah, sure, it was really funny to play that trick on him_!"

"I didn't play a trick on you! It...was all serious to me! And I wanted you to stay because you wanted it. Not because of me. Or because of chains holding you in prison."

"I only stayed here because of you", he replied angry. "Nothing else held me here. Just you. Because you gave me the feeling...of being worth something as some kind of human, not as reptile. But it was all a lie!" He glared at her, baring his teeth.

"It was no lie", she said, trying to stay calm and to hold her tears back. "I never lied at you. Everything I told you has been true. You must believe me!"

"Or what? I'll leave then, who cares? This tribe will die anyway, and no prophecy will make some more children appear to hold his civilization alive! Just if we live and do not die new generations can come!"

"But we-"

"The _we_ is over", he hissed. "I'm alone now. Again." He laughed derisive, but she could hear the sad tone in his voice. "If you'd been serious I'd have stayed here._ We_ could have had a nice life till your _prophecy_", he really spat out that word, "would have come true. And I bet your leader would have danced, happy about the tears I'd shed because of your death."

Liz closed her eyes. A tear ran down her cheek and she sniffed quietly. "I've always lived to die for this prophecy", she whispered. "And read it again and again, hoping I'd be part of it soon. I thought I'd be the woman in the prophecy, being together with someone of my species, someone who was just like me. But the day you arrived I thought it wasn't true that you were the chosen one. Because you've been so different from the one I imagined."

She paused, but smiled weakly. "You changed. And I did, too. I learned to like you more and more and after the thing with Nathan...I felt safe in your near, thought I could talk to you about it. I just wanted to have you in my near because I knew you'd understand me."

There was silence. The rain pattered on the ground, ran down their faces, mixed with Liz' tears. She stared at the red flower in her hand. Tilian had turned his back to her, staring into the darkness.

"You...wanted to give me the flower?", she asked, wiping the tears out of her face. He nodded slightly. "Why?"

"If you don't know I simply wasted my time. And this flower", he growled. Then he stood up, turned to her and stared into her eyes for a long time. "I-"

He was interrupted by a rope which flew towards him and laid around his neck. He tried to get rid of it, but couldn't tear it. _Metal_, he thought furiously and hissed. Liz stood up now, looking into the direction the rope had come from. Tilian glared at her. "This was your plan, wasn't it?"

"It wasn't! Honest! Even without me being here they'd have found you!"

Tilian pulled on the rope. A guard flew out of the bushes. Tilian didn't notice the second rope. It wrapped around his leg. Roaring like a wild animal he tried to get free, six guards appeared around him and even more ropes wrapped around his arms, legs, waist and chest.

"Wait!", shouted Liz. "Let him go! He's no prisoner!" As she tried to help Tilian a guard pushed her hardly out of the way. She fell backwards to the ground. Tilian's muscles strained. He hissed, struggled, tried to get free but made everything even worse. The guards wanted to pull him away, but he bored his claws and feet into the ground and held against it.

"Eliza!", he shouted, "Do something!"

Liz couldn't move. She stared at the scene like in trance. Helpless she had to watch how hard Tilian fought to get rid of the ropes, it was nearly impossible to fight that long against it. He shouted her name, she couldn't hear him.

"Liz!"

A guard lifted his lance, the sharp metallic end pointed at Tilian's neck. From the corner of his eye he saw it, wanted to move away. But couldn't. "Liz, hurry up a bit!"

"Wait! You cannot-" Liz jumped to her feet, but too late. The lance bored for a second into Tilian's neck. It happened that fast that she couldn't really see it. His panting breath calmed down, he looked one last time helpless at Liz before he collapsed and landed in the mud. "...kill him..." The end of her sentence was lost in the loud sound of the rain.

The seven guards lifted Tilian and carried him back to the town, Liz ran after them. "Why did you kill him?!" She nearly shouted, her voice shook. Jake, the leader of the guards, turned to her.

"He isn't dead. Just without conscious."

"But the lance...?"

"Was covered with a special narkose poison. It's only a small cut I made into a for him not dangerous area so that the poison could show effect."

Wordless Liz followed the guards back into the town. When they were back again Jake turned to her. "Will he try to escape?", he asked. "You know him better than me."

Liz stared at Tilian. "He won't. I'll take care of him. Bring him into his room in the temple." Jake nodded and gave the other guards the order to place Tilian in his own room. They took him to the temple, laid him down on his bed and disappeared again. Liz followed them, after they were gone she bent over Tilian and stroke his cheek gently. There was a cut close to his shoulder. Not big, it didn't bleed that much.

She had taken the flower with her and laid it on the table next to the bed. Then she began to loosen the ropes around his arms, legs, waist and neck.

**Thanks, Haylie Winchester, for the great review! :D Okay...in the next chapter should be at least SOME action like fighting...x))**


	7. Viper's Bite

Viper's Bite

She hadn't finished yet as he opened his eyes and woke up. "And here we are again", he breathed weakly. "Tied up in front of you." A smile went across his face. Liz smiled as well as she saw he was awake.

"You're not angry anymore?"

"Obviously not. How could I ever be angry with someone like you?"

Liz gave him a smile and freed him from the last ropes. Then she sighed quietly and walked on the balcony, based her ellbows on the rail and stared at the dark clouds outside. Tilian sat up and looked at her. The tip of her tail moved a bit. He noticed the flower lying on the table next to him and stood up, taking it with him. The clone stopped next to her and followed her look.

"Does the sun shine here?", he asked jokingly. "Cause I've never seen her for longer than an hour."

Liz smiled. "No, we mostly have rainy weather here. Only in fall there is much more sun."

Silence between them. Then Liz looked at him. "I wanna show you something." She turned away and left the room. Confused Tilian stared at her. "Come on!" She smiled brightly and left the room. Carefully Tilian put the flower into a pocket in his toga and followed her quickly. After she had led him through the whole village they reached a gigantic tree.

"Follow me." She began to climb up the trunk, hesitating Tilian followed her. On top of it Liz walked along a very thick and long branch until she had reached the fork at the end of it. She sat down. There was enough space for four people to sit down next to each other. The clone sat down too and followed her look.

"This is...amazing..." From up there he could see very far and even saw the lights of Landmark City. The full moon stood high at the sky, the rain had stopped and the clouds flaoted away, leaving a starry sky behind.

"It's one of my most favourite places", she whispered, avoiding his look. "I just wanted to share it with you."

Again, there was silence. No one said a word. Tilian remembered the flower in his pocket, but didn't want to give it to her. He was too afraid she'd refuse or worse. _I'm a coward, a weak coward_, he thought bitterly. He didn't know why, but for some unknown reason he knew that it would hurt a lot of she said no. He already sensed that being without her would ache.

Tilian cleared his throat. "I-It's a really wonderful place. And the view from up here is just breathtaking..." He bit his lower lip. "...Just like you."

"Sorry? What did you say? You mumbled it too quietly, I'm afraid."

"Oh, err...nothing. I was just talking about the great view..." Embarrassed he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away quickly. Silence another time. Mentally he cursed that he was too afraid to tell a girl about his feelings. He stared at Liz. She was looking up into the starry sky, watching the beautiful shimmering stars. As she leaned back a bit she based her right hand on the branch and laid the other one on Tilian's.

He swallowed as Liz looked at him, smiling slightly. Seductive her eyes stared into his own. Silver light of the moon was reflected in them and made her look even more mysterious and beautiful. The clone noticed his throat was terribly dry and his pulse fastened. Liz closed the gap between their faces slowly, closing her eyes with each inch she came closer.

Suddenly he pulled his hand away and stood up quickly. Confused Liz looked up at him. "I...I'm sorry, I-I just...I can't." He turned away, walked back to the trunk and climbed down.

On the way back to the temple he realized what he had done. With the flat of his hand he stroke his forehead hardly. _I'm such an idiot! A silly, coward and ignorant idiot! She wanted to _kiss_ me! She really seemed to _want_ it! 'Course, I blew it again! _Angry he kicked away a stone. He stopped and took a deep breath in. "I'll just go back and tell her... can't be that difficult..."

With a racing heart he turned around and walked back to the tree, but saw Liz was gone when he reached the top of it. Disappointed, but also relieved he climbed down again, not knowing what to do now. So he simply sighed and walked to the temple slowly.

In their room he found Liz on the balcony, watching the stars. She hadn't noticed him yet, so he sneaked closer to her. "I'm sorry that I left", he admitted quietly and cleared his throat. "I didn't want to offend you or something."

"It's okay."

In the following moment of silence he took a deep breath in. For what reason ever his heart began to beat faster as he took the flower out of his pocket. He offered her the flower and looked embarrassed away. "I...really dunno what to say...", he began. "I've never..."

She took the flower and smiled at him. "...done this before?" She closed her eyes and smelled on it. "How do you show that you love each other?" Green eyes focused him with a seductive look.

"Well, I've never done that before too", he smirked embarrassed. "But as far as I know we simply tell each other about it."

"And then?"

"What then?"

"Nothing happens? You tell each other that you're in love and that's it?"

"No, we-"

"Wait", she whispered interrupting and laid a finger on his lips. "Don't tell me. Show me."

Slowly he bent down to her (she was about a head smaller than he was) and pressed his lips unsecure on hers, closing his eyes. As fast as a lightning the prickle in his belly went through his whole body, causing a breathtaking feeling in him. She kissed him back, wrapped her arms around his neck, closing her eyes as her tongue entered his mouth.

First he didn't know what to do, his mind was simply blank. He laid his arms around her waist, kissed her back after she had shown him what to do. Soon she broke the kiss and laid her head on his chest, hugging him tightly.

"Actually", she began and looked at the flower again, "this flower is useful too. Did I tell you about it?"

"No, you didn't."

"Well, if the woman eats one of the leaves she'll get lots of children. That's the legend behind this plant."

"And how many do you want?"

"Children?" She laughed. "When they're all from you... a thousand."

He smirked. "We'll see about that..."

"Yeah, we'll really see about that", spat a voice in the doorway. Firekat leaned against the door, her arms folded on her chest, looking at the two. Her tail moved fore- and backwards. Tilian's eyes narrowed.

"You lied at us, Till", she said. "Mr Lee wants you to come back."

"I won't", he hissed back. "And you cannot force me."

"And", she added, closing her eyes. "We have to take the girl with us as well. Order of Mr Lee."

Tilian glared at her. "If not?"

Stingfly appeared on the balcony behind them, Wrecka and Rayza came through the door and surrounded Liz and Tilian.

"We simply have to force you."

Nervously he looked at his teammates. They'd orders to bring him and Liz to Mr Lee. As long as Liz stayed with him, nothing could happen. That was his worst fear: Liz getting hurt. And he feared the prophecy itself. If Liz was going to die he wouldn't be able to get over it. He already knew that. She meant too much to him.

"What does Lee want from us?"

"You are his possess", hissed Firekat, focusing him with her cat-like eyes. "And he's curious to see Lizzie here."

Liz growled quietly, bared her teeth. Tilian held his arm in front of her, trying to hold her back. "Don't", he whispered. "That's senseless." Liz laid her hands on his shoulders and clung to his back.

"Trust me, I've got an idea", she whispered into his ear. He nodded slightly. Slowly her hand went into a bag in her skirt. She pulled something out of it and threw it on the ground. Grey and red smoke filled the room, the clones began to cough.

As the smoke was gone, Tilian and Liz were, too. "Where are they?", spat Firekat angry.

"Out there!"

Liz and Tilian ran down the street, away from the temple. "Where are we going?", he asked quickly, noticing that Stingfly was already on his way to them. Liz glanced at him shortly.

"No idea!"

The two just continued running, through the swamps, across muddy paths and passing some sleeping crocodiles. Suddenly Stingfly landed right in front of them, they stopped abruptly. Panting they wanted to turn around, but Wrecka already stood there. And to their left and right Firekat and Rayza appeared. They were surrounded, no way out was in sight.

Tilian looked around. Behind Firekat lay some crocodiles sleeping in the mud. He grinned at her and hissed quietly, telling the animals to attack. Firekat avoided the sharp teeth of a crocodile, glaring angry at Tilian. He told the crocodiles to attack all of the clones.

"Enough of this", growled Firekat who sat now on a tree. She had a small pistol on her belt, took it and aimed at Tilian.

"Look out!"

Too late. An arrow hit Tilian in the shoulder. He pulled it quickly out, it was a narkose arrow. Firekat aimed at Liz. Tilian simply pulled her out of the way, so that she wasn't hit. As long as the narkose didn't show any effect he felt good. The next arrow supposed to be for Liz hit Tilian's leg because he had protected her again.

"Is that all you got?", he hissed derisive. "Even with narkose I'm faster than you!"

"Don't think so", grinned Firekat. Tilian whirled around. Every clone had such a pistol! Soon Liz was hit, after Tilian had gotten some more arrows. Only now the narkose showed effect on him after Liz had fallen asleep. He collapsed and fell without conscious to the ground, his sight turned blurry, then black.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Liz woke up first. She opened her eyes and found herself lying on a cold surface. As she looked around she noticed she was in a kind of dome, made up of green scale-like walls. Tilian laid right next to her on the ground, still consciousless. She sat up, knelt down next to him and tried to wake him up. "Till", she whispered. "Come on, this isn't the right time to sleep!"

"Indeed, it isn't."

Liz whirled around. A man with ruffled blond hair and wide glasses looked at her. He wore a white and black suit, his differently coloured eyes focused Liz. She knew his face somehow, but couldn't remember why.

"What do you want?", she growled angry and stood up, going into fighting position right in front of Tilian.

"I want my possesses back", smirked the man and walked towards her, his hands folded on his back.

"Plural?"

"_You_ are my possess as well. Don't you remember? A long time ago I created you as my very first clone. It turned out to have some heavy failures, became female and mutated differently than I actually wanted it. Nonetheless, I kept you. One day you escaped the lab, ran away. I lost your signal in the swamps."

"Then it was you who wiped my memory?!"

"I didn't wipe it. You were simply too nervous, too enraged and too hasty to save all the information in your memory. You simply forgot it."

"That's...impossible! You mean...I'm something like a clone?"

"You _are_ a clone", he grinned. "You are actually Tilian, just female."

Liz' tail hit Tilian hardly. She wanted him to wake up finally. It worked, fortunately, and he sat alarmed up. "I'm awake! I'm awake!", he said sleepy and looked around. As he saw Lee he jumped to his feet, a bit weak though, and went into fighting position. Suddenly he placed a hand on his forehead and reeled backwards, then sank to his knees again. His head ached like it would explode, he felt a misterious sickness in his belly. His breath was fast.

Without looking away from Lee Liz knelt down next to Tilian, trying to help him. "No, no...I just stood up too fast...too many narkose arrows..."

"Your own fault, Tilian", said Lee. "You could have come here voluntarily."

"I'd have liked to die before doing that", hissed the clone.

"Hard and serious words coming from you." Lee shook his head slightly. "And nice clothes, by the way." Lee looked at Tilian's 'skirt'. He didn't wear his shirt anymore since it had been so wet.

"Way more comfortable than a suit", he hissed back.

"I prefer it though", smirked the scientist.

"What do you want from us?" Tilian's eyes narrowed.

"I want you to become part of my Mu-Team again. And well...we'll surely have some place for her."

"In other words, you want me to kill, steal and be emotionless again." The clone hissed angry. "Perhaps that's what you want, but I don't. I simply wanna get out of here, back to the place I came from. I want to be me, I want to have my own life."

"You haven't been created to do that", growled Lee, slightly enraged that the clone didn't want to follow the orders. Tilian stood up and towered the scientist. He was bigger than Lee.

"But?"

"But to listen to _me_! However, if you don't want this, I have other solutions." The other clones came into the room and stopped behind Lee. He turned to them. "Destroy them", was all he said before he walked away.

Tilian and Liz went into fighting position. "Perhaps I never told you", he said quietly to her. "But I'm afraid to lose you."

"Same here", she replied swallowing.

"And perhaps this is the wrong time to ask, but how does a couple decide to do the marriage ceremony?"

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "The woman asks."

"Your turn, darling", he grinned.

"This is really the wrong time to ask", she said, "so if we survive this, it's the first thing I'm going to do."

Wrecka attacked Liz, but she just stepped out of the way. Her agility and speed became now very useful. Wrecka always missed her, she was too fast for him. Firekat growled angry.

"First Tilian, then the girl!"

She attacked Tilian herself. He blocked her attacks, kicks and punches, ducked and did a kick himself. She blocked as well, went to the ground and kicked his legs. He jumped at the last moment and did a high kick as she stood up again. It sat. Firekat fell to the ground, blood came out of the corner of her mouth.

Before he could deal with her the other clones attacked him, leaving Liz alone. Blocking, punching and kicking Tilian whirled around, ducked from time to time or jumped. Liz tried to help him, grabbed Rayza's shoulders and threw him with an elegant move to the ground. Tilian winked as she looked at him. Suddenly Liz' face changed. Her eyes widened.

"Look out!" She yelled and jumped towards him.

**Uhu...cliff hanger! :P Hope you like it anyway. Reviews are always welcome ;) And I didn't spend any time correct-reading it...sorry for mistakes. **

**See ya in the next chapter! **


	8. Lizard Tears

**Before you read this chapter, I wanted to thank tari-001 and musamelody for their reviews :) specially tari's, coz she told me about some mistakes I made :P (I didn't correct read this chapter because I'm too lazy...if you find mistakes, you can keep them! xD )  
**

**Oh, and when you read this chapter, you should listen to a sad song...Like Sadness and Sorrow or so ;) And now:**

Lizard Tears

"No!"

Firekat's claws bored into Liz' belly instead of Tilian's neck. She had jumped between them, to protect him. Now Lioness' clone pulled her claws out of the girl's stomach, staring at her. Liz felt her legs shaking. She collapsed, landed on the ground heavily panting. Tilian wanted to help her, but Rayza and Wrecka blockated his way.

"We have no time for that!", hissed Tilian. "She needs help!" He looked at the two guys in front of him. "Please."

Before Firekat could attack her another time, just to cause Tilian even more pain, someone grabbed her from behind. It was Wrecka. "Let me go, you idiot!", she spat furiously and struggled. Wrecka shook his head. Next to him stood Rayza and Stingfly, both watching Liz and Tilian.

"You already did enough", growled Wrecka.

"Hey, Till", smiled Liz weakly as he lifted the upper part of her body, kneeling next to her. "The prophecy came true."

"You...you really wasted your life for me", he said in a sadly quiet tone.

"I didn't", she said, "I lived for this moment. You know that." Her face cramped in pain because the wound ached with each and every breath. Tilian laid his hand on her chest gently.

"Calm down, I...I mean, you won't die, will you? There are surely some hospitals around...with people who can help you!"

She took his hand gently. "No, it's too late. Moreover...we knew this moment would come, didn't we?"

"But not so soon", he replied. "What about our plans? The rest of our life? Do I have to throw it away, just because of that prophecy?"

"Sometimes we have...to do sacrifices..."

"I don't want to lose you", he whispered. Seeing her lying in his arms made it hard to stay serious. He felt tears coming into his eyes as he thought about her death, again and again. "I need you...love you..."

"No, it's over...", she panted. She squeezed his hand she held. A tear ran down her cheek as she closed her eyes in pain.

"Stay here", he pleaded. "What am I going to do without you?"

"Continue your life...", replied Liz. "I'd have loved to share it with you." She took obviously her last energy and sat up slowly. Blood streamed down her belly. She gave him a short kiss on his lips, but collapsed right after it again.

"No...!"

She panted even harder and swallowed dryly. Then she smiled weakly at him. "I didn't...tell you about my...fourth tattoo..."

"You told me only about three..."

"I got a new one...Juan made it...on the back of my neck..."

Carefully he stroke her hair away and saw the tattoo on the back of her neck. There were some symbols which looked like a script he didn't know. The tattoo wasn't very big, but looked really wonderful. "What is it?", he asked quietly.

"Your name...written in the old language...like the prophecy..." She felt that she got weaker. However, she smiled. "Actually...I asked Juan...to write Nathan's...name there but...he tricked me and...wrote yours instead...Like he knew what was going...to happen..." The girl swallowed dryly. "Don't give up, Till", she smiled and lifted her other hand, stroke his cheek gently.

"Liz...!" He didn't want to lose her. She had been the first person who had loved him, she meant everything to him. Now he didn't want to lose her, and the feeling she had given him. The feeling of being worth something, and the feeling of being loved. Moreover she had been the first and only girl which had been like him, wearing parts of reptiles inside her.

"Don't give up", she repeated panting. "Even...when I'm not here..." Her hand striking his cheek fell weakly down, she closed her eyes, breathed her last breath. She was gone now, forever. Out of this world, out of his life. Gone.

"No..." Completely helpless he stared at her quite peaceful but lifeless face, then buried his face in her shoulder, closing his eyes. Like a thorn the pain went through him. Tilian sobbed. For the very first time in his life. For him a world had been destroyed, a world he had loved so much. A tear ran down his face, fell to the ground silently. He didn't care.

Everything around him turned blurry, he ignored all that what happened. Liz lay still in his arms, but was dead. This fact made him feel even worse. Even more vulnerable. And even weaker.

She'd never come back. The plans they had had would never be used, their dreams never come true. Within a second his whole future had been destroyed.

"Liz...", he whispered, oppressed another sob and buried his face into her shoulder. Everything was over now.

Suddenly he felt something on his throat. Firekat had come free, stood now next to him and held a claw on his throat, grinning triumphant and derisive at him. Tilian opened his eyes only a bit, didn't even look at her, but became quiet. Firekat laughed toneless.

"It's over now, Till."

"Kill me", he replied and closed his eyes again. "I have nothing left to lose. Nothing that holds me here anymore."

"Aw, how dramatic." Her claw pressed a bit harder against the soft and vulnerable skin of his throat. He swallowed and buried his face in Liz' cold shoulder.

"I don't mind what you're doing to me", said Tilian in a strangely quiet tone.

"But I do." Lee had watched everything and entered the room again. He walked towards the group, the clones stood around Tilian, Liz and Firekat, doing nothing. Firekat looked confused at the scientist, Tilian opened an eye and watched him from the corner of it.

"What's coming now?", he hissed angry. "Wanna laugh about my lose?"

"Firekat, back off", ordered Lee. Firekat hesitated first, but retracted her claw and took a step backwards. Lee, his hands folded on his back, stopped right in front of Tilian and looked down at him.

"It's amazing how deep someone can fall", he said, "Look at yourself. You're crying for a big failure in my research."

"Your lose is my win", hissed Tilian back, baring his teeth. "What do you want? Destroy me, like you told that freaks."

"You could be still useful after all. I'm gonna give you a second chance."

"Second chance?" Tilian growled. "I don't want a second chance."

"Oh, that was no offer. It was an order."

"You can't force me to work for you", hissed the clone. "You can't use anything against me."

"So? I won't use anything against you." Lee smirked. "What do you desire most of all?"

This question confused Tilian. He looked at Lee, rose an eyebrow. Why did he ask him that question? He had something in mind, that was sure. But Tilian couldn't tell what kind of plan it was.

"Just tell me."

The clone's eyes focused Liz lying in his arms. Then he looked at Lee again. "It's her", he replied quietly.

"I already expected this answer", said Lee, his face turned serious. "And I bet you'd do everything to get her back, wouldn't you?"

"Everything." He didn't even know what he said. He didn't even notice that Lee used Tilian's love for her as an advantage for himself.

"You know very well that my technology is the best available at the moment. I could create another clone, one of her. Then you'll get her back. The only thing you have to do is becoming member of my Mu-Team again. That's everything."

"A clone doesn't have the same character as the original." Tilian looked at Liz.

"Perhaps not. But you could form her. You could change her character until it is very similar to the one of this clone here."

"Woah, wait a second! Liz is a clone?"

"Exactly. Axel's clone. Something went wrong in the experimental phase, her mutation was full of faults, her gender was not right. She escaped and landed somewhere I don't know. Until you found her accidently."

"You mean...she's me? She's nothing but me in form of a girl with a different mutation?"

"Precisely." Lee cleared his throat. "So, do you wish to get her back?"

First Tilian hesitated. But it was a chance to get Liz back, to be together with her again. Slowly he nodded. "I do." The grip around her cold and lifeless hand he still held tightened.

"You just have to become part of my Mu-Team again. And you have to follow my orders."

"Of course." His voice wasn't more than just a whisper. "I have just one more wish. Let me alone with her, I simply want to say goodbye. For three days and three nights."

"Three days and nights? You mean 72 hours?" Lee shrugged his shoulders. "That's just fair, I think. But afterwards you have to promise that you won't even mention her until the clone is finished. Alright?"

"Sure."

"Firekat", Lee looked at the cat-like clone standing behind Tilian, "get some ordinary clothes for him. Bring him to one of the empty rooms then, he can place the girl there."

Firekat nodded, turned to Tilian again. "C'mon lizard", she hissed quietly, trying not to sound too hateful because Lee was around. In a slow pace Tilian stood up and lifted Liz, as careful as possible. He followed Firekat into a not very big room. The walls were white, the ground grey. Only a bed stood at the wall, a chair next to it. Except that furniture it was empty.

"I'll be right back." Firekat left Tilian and Liz alone. The clone laid her on the bed, stroke her ginger, shimmering hair out of her face and studied her fine features. She looked like she was asleep. There was, however, something on her that let him shudder. It was the strange greyish colour of her cold and dead skin.

He took her hand and knelt down next to the bed, closing his eyes. He ignored the sound of the door which just slid open. Firekat stepped in and threw a bundle of clothes on the ground to his right. She sighed and folded her arms.

"Your jumpsuit. In my opinion a thousand times better than this...skirt."

"It is no skirt", he replied irritated by her ignorance. He already suffered enough. Now she was cold enough to annoy him even more. "It's a kind of toga."

"Yeah, whatever", she rolled her eyes, then looked at his back, noticing the tattoo of the two snakes at once. "You got a tattoo?" Her ears erected in curiosity.

"Why don't you just go?", he suggested.

With a derisive snort Firekat turned around and left the room. After the door had closed again Tilian breathed out slowly and stroke absent-minded Liz' cold hand.

Three days and three nights passed. Tilian didn't leave the room, not even once. He didn't drink or eat, he did nothing except sitting next to her, saying silently goodbye to her. Remembering the time he had spent with her a sad and quite weak smile appeared on his face, but was gone the next moment as his eyes focused her lifeless face again.

He knew she was gone. But even after hours of thinking about it, over and over again, he couldn't really realize it. Just some hours before it he had felt simply great. He couldn't describe it with other words. Great. And one second had changed everything. One heartbeat had decided over life and death.

From time to time a tear ran down his face, without that he even noticed it. Everything around him became so unimportant. Important was just his try to let go of her. But he failed. Miserably.

This way the time passed quickly. As the last day was over Liz still lay on the bed, and Tilian still sat next to it. He hadn't really moved in the last 72 hours. He hadn't been able to sleep, hadn't eaten or drunken anything, hadn't spoken a word.

As Lee sent Firekat to bring Tilian to him she found him still in that room. But to her surprise he didn't sit there anymore; The clone stood in the middle of the room and closed the zipper of his jacket, put on the light green gloves, turned to her as he finished. The toga he had worn laid over the chair, ordinary folded.

"You okay?" She noticed his tired and somehow pale face. The green of his skin wasn't that bright anymore, it was more similar to a mix of grey and dark green, giving his face a scary and worrying expression.

"I have to." With that he walked past her, heading for the door.

"Hey, and what's with her?" Firekat pointed at Liz. Tilian stopped in the door, his hands formed fitsts. He sighed.

"I'll take care of her later." He left. Firekat just shrugged her shoulders and followed him.

In the great hall Firekat and Tilian met the rest of the Mu-Team and Lee. "Good to have you back, Tilian", smirked the scientist as he noticed Tilian kept his promise. Tilian stared almost emotionless at his creator.

"This isn't mutual", he said simply. "However, I'm here to accomplish."

"Exactly. Now, I want you to get to the Landmark City University to steal a sample I need for further research. Get back before Axel and his team arrive! They must not interfere another time!" He lowed his voice. "And you should not fail again."

The mutants turned around to leave, rolling their eyes. The usual again. Manning would arrive anyway, so there was actually no need to be extra careful. "Tilian", Lee looked at the clone who was about to leave too. "I have to talk to you first."

"What is it?" He turned to Lee.

"Did you sleep in the last days? You don't look very good."

Tilian sighed quietly. "I couldn't sleep, if it's just that you wanna know."

"You didn't even sleep for some hours? 72 hours of staying awake doesn't sound good. Not even for you. It could bring some risks with it, you know? Less concentration than usual, connected to lots of mistakes and failures which could end dangerously."

"It's nothing. I can keep myself awake."

Lee shook his head. "I don't fear that you'll fall asleep, I fear that you're that tired you could reckon dangerous situations wrong and get hurt."

"You wanted me to be part of this team again, so I will go with them", defended Tilian himself. "And I'm not tired. Just a bit...I mean, still frustrated."

"Also dangerous", said Lee. "Forget the girl finally. You can't help her anymore. And you had your time to say goodbye or whatever. Now concentrate on what's important here."

"Forgetting the dead is difficult", replied the clone calmly. "I bet even you'd have problems with it."

Tilian's creator sighed, though it sounded a bit annoyed. "Alright. Go now, get some sleep. In _your_ room. Afterwards you bring her away from here, bury her or do whatever you like. But never mention her again! And don't even think about her! It's making you weaker."

"But I-"

"No but. You won't go on this mission, you'll go into your room and sleep. That's an order", said Lee irritated.

Tilian growled quietly, but turned around and left the hall enraged. In front of the room where Liz was in he stopped and hesitated a bit. After moments of standing there, staring at the grey door, he shook his head growling, clenched his fists and headed directly for his own room. Even though he thought he wasn't able to sleep he oppressed a yawn as he laid down on his bed.

A long time and some tries later he finally managed to rest.

_"Tilian", whispered a voice behind him. Quickly he whirled around. _

_"Liz", he breathed surprised and shocked, but also relieved. She stood close behind him, laid a finger on his lips to make him shut up. Her touch didn't feel real, it was more like a prickling breeze on his mouth. _

_"The prophecy came true", she said. He looked at her. Her body was nearly invisible, she shimmered like a ghost. Nonetheless she looked still beautiful. "And you did everything right so far."_

_"What do you mean?" He took her hand, but she pushed his one gently away, taking a step backwards. _

_"It said something about resurrection. Now I know what it means." A smile appeared on her face. "Not the tribe will come to life again. It's the one who sacrified his life for the other reptile. It's..."_

_"You", he whispered, relieved. She nodded. _

_"Remember the first reptiles? The man took the woman away from the tribe after crying for three days and nights. You stayed with me, three days and three nights, doing just what the first one had done. And you did everything right."_

_"But how can you come back?"_

_"Kiss me", she smiled. Then her figure turned more blurry until she disappeared. "Wake up now." He heard her voice in his head _and opened his eyes, breathing heavily. Rubbing his aching head he sat up and closed his eyes. That had been the strangest dream ever. Or...it hadn't been a dream! It had been real! As he realized this he jumped out of the bed and burst out of the room.

Seconds later he reached the room where Liz was. The door slid open, his first sight was dedicated to her. She still laid on the bed, hadn't moved an inch. Her skin was still deadly grey and cold.

He caught his breath and took her hand gently, squeezing it a bit. Then he bent over her, looked into her face before he closed his eyes and pressed his lips on hers.

The clone didn't know why he was so sure it would work. He could have just dreamed all this, could have imagined it in his mind. His desire to get her back to life could have played a trick on him. He kissed her though. It wasn't the same. It was so not similiar to their first kiss, when she had been alive. It was different. Her skin was cold, her heart didn't beat, she didn't breathe.

For a while he knelt next to her bed, squeezing her hand absent-minded. "If you wanna prove that you didn't lie at me...this would be the right moment", he told her. Disappointed he sighed and stood up. "At least I tried." He turned around and headed for the door. As he stood right in front of it he heard a sound behind him and whirled around.

His heart stopped beating for a second or two, he forgot breathing. He couldn't breathe. In front of her bed stood Liz, looking at him with empty eyes. This look let Tilian shudder. She looked like a zombie at him. Scared he took a step backwards, staring at her.

* * *

**Oh noes :O a cliffie! See ya in the next chapter! :D Please review! **


	9. Resurrection

**This chapter has been sligthly edited. I changed all the bold printed vocs I didn't know :D Hope everything is alright now! **

**And thanks to tari-001 and musamelody for their great reviews!! **

Resurrection

His legs shook slightly, he shuddered, his heart beat that fast that he was sure she could hear it. Weakly he sank to his knees, still looking straight into her face. "Eliza", was all he could say in a quiet whispering tone.

Hearing her name she squinted, looked into his eyes and knelt down in front of him, her face stayed emotionless as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "What's up, I-" Liz laid a finger on his lips, making him shut up. Then a smile went across her face. This time her touch felt real. The warmth was back in her body, her body was back in life.

"The prophecy came true", she said quietly. "Though a bit different than everyone had expected."

"That's impossible..."

"Nothing is impossible if you just believe in it."

"I didn't believe in it..but you're back now", he replied confused.

"But I did. And you believed in it after I told you about it in your dream."

"I-"

She cut him off with a kiss. However, he broke the kiss at once and pulled her into a tight hug, like he was going to keep her in that hug forever. Liz hugged him back, even tighter, wrapped her arms around his neck. A hot tear ran down her shoulder, but she wasn't the one who started crying. Oppressing a sob he buried his face in her shoulder, like he had done three days ago.

Now she was back. That's all that mattered now.

.

"I thought I lost you forever", he whispered, almost sobbing. "I'm so sorry I couldn't help you...I-I was too weak, too...helpless..." He swallowed and closed his eyes, tears running down his cheeks. "I-I felt so...so dead without you...I need you..." He sniffed. "I-I love you..."

"It's over now." She tried to comfort him and could hardly hold back her tears. That he cared so much about her just made her feel so much better. "I'll never leave you again..."

Several moments of silence later he separated from her, laid his hands gently on her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "You have to get away from here", he said quietly, now serious again. "Before Lee finds out that you're alive."

"And what about you?"

"I'll bring you away from this place. Just like Lee had ordered me. And I'll follow you some days later, not to make him distrustful."

"Alright..."

"So, listen up now." He told her about the plan. Then he lifted her carefully and went with her out of the room. Liz just had to act like she was dead. So he made his way to one greenish-yellow sphere of their hideout, heading for his motorbike. Once he was out of the building everything else would be easier. This was the difficult part, to get away from there.

"You should do that more often", she smirked as no one was around. "Being carried is way more comfortable..."

"As if", he replied. "Once you're back you'll have to walk."

"Too bad."

He forced himself to smile weakly, then entered the sphere where the vehicles stood. "Shut up now", he hissed as he saw the other clones in the sphere. At once Liz closed her eyes again and relaxed her muscles.

The clones looked up at Tilian who just entered. "Man, you look terrible", said Stingfly. "Like a mummy!"

Tilian didn't reply, but simply glared at Stingfly as he walked past him.

"What are you doing?" Curiously Rayza looked at the girl in his arms. He whistled impressed. "Really not bad, that girl."

Axel's clone let out a deep, defending and threatening growl. "One more word and I'll cut the tongue out of your fish-mouth", he hissed, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the rest of the team. "Anyone else who wants to give useless comments?"

"Get rid of her", said Firekat in a cold voice, "before you totally lose your mind. That girl makes you crazy."

"Ohh, someone sounds really jealous", joked Wrecka. Firekat glared at him.

Meanwhile Tilian sat Liz on his bike, putting on his helmet. "I'm gonna get rid of her", he said seriously. "Tell Lee that I'm going to be back in the evening." With this said, he started the vehicle and left.

Far away from the hideout Tilian stopped and looked over his shoulder at Liz who sat behind him, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist. Obviously, she was scared. He smiled weakly.

"What's up?"

"This is...a bit too fast", she stuttered, looking distrustful at the vehicle.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that..." From a box being under the seat he took another helmet and handed it over to Liz. Suspiciously she studied it.

"This is really a strange world you live in", she said, her eyes focused him now. They stood on an empty street, somewhere before the outskirts of Landmark City. To the left and to the right of the street were wide plains of green-brown grass. Far behind them lay the Ridgeback Mountains. Tilian just smiled at the expression of her face.

"We're going to continue the rest of our way a bit faster. You should put on the helmet, by the way."

"Even faster?" Her eyes widened. "You know, I'm not used to such a speed."

"I simply love it, for some reason", he smirked. "Trust me, nothing's gonna happen if you hold on tight."

And so they continued they're way. Liz buried her fingers in his waist, afraid to fall off the motorbike. After some time she relaxed a bit and laid the upper part of her body on his back. She started to enjoy it, the landscape passed the two really fast, she couldn't even recognize a detail. The wind went through her clothes, she froze a bit. In contrast to Tilian she just wore her usual top and a skirt.

"You okay?", he asked later. "You don't say anything."

She smiled. "I love you." And clung her body even tighter to his own.

Tilian smiled. "Love you, too."

Silence fell. Until they were close to the swamps Tilian didn't even say a word, Liz also kept quiet. He stopped his vehicle in front of the first trees of the swamps, a bit fog was between the trunks. Liz went off the bike and handed the helmet over to him. Her hair looked ruffled, but she smiled.

"I can't take you farther", he said, seriously. "You have to go by foot from now on. But I'll come to the village in three days. Promise." A smile went across his face, though Liz couldn't see it because of the helmet.

"Okay", she whispered and looked absent-minded at the trees. He raised an eyebrow.

"Everything alright?"

"No...no, it's just...since that blonde man told me I'm nothing but you...I feel different."

"You're not me." He laughed shortly. "You're a girl, aren't you?" As Tilian noticed Liz didn't even smile he stopped laughing. "Okay, bad joke...But you're not me. In the last year you spent with the tribe you created your own character, became what you are now. That has nothing to do with me."

She looked at him.

"Sure, I have a character, know what I am and where I'm from. That means nothing. This character has been formed by a maniac, I need time to create my own. You already did that."

Liz smiled weakly and hugged him tightly. "Thanks...I'll be waiting for you in the temple."

Tilian nodded. "Be careful."

"You too", she whispered and let him go.

After Tilian had left again Liz began to make her way through the fog, back to the village. From then on she knew the way and was sure to reach the town within three days. That would mean she'd arrive when Tilian wanted to come.

xxxxxxxx

"Sure we should do this?", whispered Lioness as Axel leaned against the wall. King, Shark and Hawk sat on the couch, looking at Axel as well. Their leader nodded slightly.

"I mean, we haven't seen him in the last days. The Mu-Team even went out without him. That's not normal, something's up. Moreover I wanna know what's behind it all in that village."

"We should be glad he didn't appear", snorted Hawk. "I mean, a complete team full of mutants is already enough work. One missing is just great."

"Hawkster's right", agreed Shark. "It's Tilian's thing if he doesn't come back."

"And since when do you care about your clone?"

Axel looked at his friends. "I said I wanna find out more about the village. And I want to make sure if Tilian stays there forever or if he's just injured and unable to fight."

"How are you gonna find out about that?"

"If he's still in the village, I suppose he's gonna stay there. If not...well, we can presume he's gonna fight with us again soon."

Lioness placed a hand on his shoulder, making him look at her. "Axel, listen. Even though he's just a clone...we should not interfere with whatever he's doing. As long as he doesn't bother us, we shouldn't bother him."

"On whose side are you now?" Axel pushed her hand away.

"Calm down!"

Axel sighed and lowed his head, closing his eyes. "Sorry, Li. I'm just a bit upset about it." He based with his hand on the wall. "You're right, guys. We should let him do whatever he's up to. As long as it doesn't bother us..."

"Now that this is cleared...Let's go to the cinema! _Werewolfs and Zombies_ is gonna start in less than half an hour!"

"Ahh, stop this!", yelled Hawk at King. "I don't want to see that movie!"

"Not my prob", grinned King.

Lioness took Axel's hand as no one watched them. She smiled at him."C'mon, they're gonna need hours", she smirked. Axel smiled back, blushing slightly, but went with her into the garage, heading for their vehicles.

xxxxxxxxxx

It was terrible. Tilian couldn't stay calm, all the time he had to think about Liz. Time passed only slowly for him. Mr Lee didn't allow him to go on missions as long as he looked that tired. So he stayed in bed for the first two days, trying to sleep. He couldn't. Worry ate him like a hungry monster. Three days. She had to walk three days through the swamps, alone. Who knew what creatures were there? Trying to attack her...

He closed his eyes. If he managed to fall asleep he'd end up in a dreamless sleep, waking up bathed in sweat. He wasn't able to sleep longer than for just an hour. It was impossible.

The third day finally came. Tilian woke up, again with a fast breath, his heart beating unregular and strangely fast. Sweat stood on his forehead, with widened eyes he looked at the alarmclock next to his bed. Half past seven in the morning.

Quickly he jumped out of the bed, put on his clothes and headed for the door. In front of it he stopped, hesitating. He looked over his shoulder and saw the ordinary folded toga lying on a chair. The clone grabbed it, hurried out of the room and into the 'garage'.

"Already up?", asked a voice behind him. Tilian froze. It was Lee.

"Yeah, why not? I couldn't sleep." He turned around to face Lee, hiding the toga behind his back.

Lee nodded. "Been thinking about her again, I suppose? I told you to forget that girl!"

"If I dream of her I can't control it", hissed Tilian. "It's like you'd try not to dream."

Lee narrowed his eyes. "But let these dreams stay dreams. What's behind your back?"

"Nothing."

"Show me that _nothing_."

Tilian growled quietly, but handed the toga over to the scientist who looked at the clothes confused. "A skirt?"

"Toga", corrected the clone. "It's a toga."

"Oh right, you wore that thing. What did you want to do with it?"

"I...umm...wanted to get rid of it..."

"Alright. But that has to wait. I want you to come to my lab, now."

"Why?"

"Follow me and find out."

In Lee's lab Tilian folded his arms on his chest, watching each of the scientist's steps. The room was not very big, had a white floor and green-yellow walls, made up of hardlight. There were some cupboards on the wall, a white desk stood under them. A couch stood in the middle of the room.

"Sit down there. I need to prepare something first."

Tilian hesitated, but sat down on the couch. He got distrustful. What was Lee about to do? Why did he bring him into this lab? He didn't like it. He could sense something was wrong. Lee turned to him, he had an injection in his hands.

"I just wanna make a blood test. So I need some of your blood. To make sure you didn't get sick in the last days."

"You know that I'm healthy."

"Insomnia can be caused by other meanings", explained Lee. He stung the injection slowly into Tilian's neck. The clone winced. He was not about to take blood away from him, he injected him something! Just as he realized this Lee took a step backwards and smirked. Tilian's view blurred, he felt dizzy. Panting he based with his hands on the couch and closed his eyes.

Lee chuckled evilly.

"What are you doing?", panted Tilian, looking at Lee.

"I'm gonna wipe your memory. So you'll finally forget that girl."

"You never wanted...to make a clone of her, did you?"

"Nope, that was a lie. I needed you back in this team. Without you Axel and the others are able to beat this team because it's outnumbered."

"You cannot force me...to forget her..."

"This was just a narkose injection. When you wake up you'll not even remember you met her."

_No..._ He fell asleep, against his will. Just the imagination to forget Liz forever hurt him. He couldn't do anything. Lee had won.


	10. Snake Mind

**Didn't correct it once again. Find mistakes, and please ignore them x)) **

**Ohhh I love the end of this chapter... Please review and tell me what you think! XD**

Snake Mind

Liz waited in the temple. She stood on the balcony, looking into the distance. Absent-mindedly she moved the tip of her tail fore- and backwards. Tilian hadn't come yet. And the sun was about to set soon. She was worried. Perhaps Lee didn't let him go? Forced him to stay there? _Or he lied at you...? _She pushed that thought out of her mind. He would come.

She sighed bitterly. A tear ran down her cheek and fell silently to the ground.

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Heavily breathing he woke up, jumped to his feet. He couldn't see anything around him, it was all just blurry. Light mixed with green and yelllow, even black. Completely orientationless he fell to his knees, panting, then jumped up again, panic coming up in his mind. Where was he? He didn't know. Finally he found a door, followed the corridor, trying to ignore the blurry vision.

He just knew he had to get away from there. He wanted to get away. Several times he fell to the floor, an unknown fear in his mind made him feel like he was chased by someone. His heart beat fast, unregular, his breath was erratic. White and yellow spots in front of his eyes made it impossible to see anything.

For what reason ever he could find a way out. Soon he found himself lying in the cold snow outside. Panic drove him farther away, he jumped to his feet again, not even realizing the pain in his neck and his legs. He fell again, this time he rolled down a hill, hit some stones with his shoulder and arms; his fall ended after some time. Cold wind blew through his ginger hair, he moaned quietly, opened his eyes but saw nothing but white snow around him.

He froze.

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Liz decided to go to bed. Perhaps he'd come the next day. Perhaps he'd come later this night and just wanted to surprise her. She laid down, but couldn't sleep. She always had to think about what could have happened to him. He'd never lie at her. He'd come. He'd never even think of leaving her in the lurch. Tilian would come.

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He did not know how he got there. Or how long he had been fleeing. He didn't even know from who or what he was fleeing. That fear in his mind had driven him farther away from the place where he had woken up. Fear. What kind of fear? He couldn't tell. Was he even able to speak? He didn't even know that. Everything he knew was...he had to run away. That's all he knew.

Who he was? No idea.

Tired, restless, covered with blood, sweat and dirt he reached a kind of forest. Fog stood between the trees, darkness laid between them. The sun was setting, it became darker. His vision wasn't that blurry anymore, but because of his tiredness his mind was simply blank. He had no orientation, felt dizzy, wanted to rest. But he couldn't. Something made him run on.

And so he ran. Through the fog, over the muddy path. Soon trees surrounded him, fog was everywhere, dirty brown and grey water reached his knees. Some dry grass stood on dry isles in this swamp.

Totally out of breath he collapsed after hours of running. He landed on a dry isle, couldn't feel his legs anymore, closed his eyes. Heavily panting he laid there, his feet still in the water of the swamps. From time to time his hand winced, his legs shook slightly. However, soon he lost conscious.

A snake came down a tree and stopped in front of the new one. It caught his smell with its forked tongue, recognized something familiar and crept away.

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Early the next morning Liz got really worried. She hurried out of her room and put on a dark blue cape while she went down the stairs to the inner ward of the temple. She grabbed the lance of a guard who looked pretty confused at her as she left. Liz went out of the village, ignoring everyone who stared at her. She wanted to go the same way she had come to the village, hoping to find Tilian.

Several hours she wandered through the swamps, couldn't find anything. "Where are you?", she whispered and looked around. Liz nearly gave up. Then suddenly she saw something behind a bush.

"Tilian!"

He lay there in the mud, not moving. Fearing he could be dead she knelt down next to him, turned him on his back and lifted the upper part of his body. He breathed weakly, had just lost conscious.

"Hey, wake up!" She wiped the mud out of his face, tried to wake him up. The girl buried her face in his shoulder, clung to him, listened to his low heartbeat. "Wake up", she whispered, a tear escaping her green snake-like eyes. "Please..." She sobbed, wrapped her arms tightly around him, hugged him. "Tilian...wake up..."

Tears landed in his face, finally he opened his eyes a bit. Liz breathed hissing in, happy to see him again. Again, she hugged him. "Finally", she whispered. "What happened?"

"Where am I?", he asked instead of a reply. Weakly his red eyes focused hers. They were so strange. So strangely unfamiliar. Liz felt uncomfortable. What was up? He went on, "And...who are you?"

"This isn't funny, Till", she said seriously.

"Funny? I...I'm not being funny...and who's Till?" He looked at her for a second, then closed his eyes again and breathed out slowly.

"Don't fall asleep!" She was afraid he could die. He was too weak. Although she had been sure he couldn't be weakened by anything. Tears came into her eyes. What was wrong with him? He didn't remember her...

"Can...you walk?"

"A bit, I..I think..."

Liz helped him up, he based on her shoulders, tried to walk. Even though they were really slow (Liz had to carry nearly his full weight, which wasn't really little) they could walk. From time to time they paused, Tilian tried to catch his breath. His legs shook hardly, like the rest of his body. Liz got pretty worried. She had never seen him that weak before. Never.

They didn't speak on their way. Liz just wanted to reach the village as soon as possible, before Tilian collapsed. She wasn't sure if he could hold on much longer.

In the afternoon, the sun was setting, she and Tilian reached the town. As soon as they were on the main path her legs gave up. She fell to the ground, Tilian landing with his upper part of his body on her. She breathed out and moaned in pain as he landed on her. Some curious men and women of the tribe came out of their huts, looking after what was going on.

Liz sat up slowly, panting heavily. She was covered with mud, sweat and was tired. Seconds later she lost conscious.

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While Tilian was brought to the shaman's hut Liz was taken into her room. She wasn't as injured as Tilian and didn't need medicine or something in contrast to him. She woke up after sunrise, finding herself in her own bed. In the bed next to hers laid no one. Tilian wasn't there. Liz didn't know where he was.

She jumped out of her bed, put on some new clothes and nearly crashed into the shaman as she left the room. Quickly she bowed to him before she finally spoke up.

"Where is Tilian?"

"In my hut. I took care of his wounds and so on. He was really bad injured, some hours more out there and he'd be dead now."

Liz bowed to him again and hurried down the corridor, ran downstairs and headed for the hut of the shaman. Breathless she reached it, pushed the curtain aside and stepped in.

Tilian lay on a kind of bed, naked as far as Liz could see. A blanket covered his hips, his legs were free too. He was asleep. Bandages were wrapped around his arms and legs.

Liz sat down on the edge of his bed and stroke his cheek gently. Suddenly his eyes fluttered open and focused her. Quickly she pulled her hand back, scared of his look. He wasn't the same. He was so...unfamiliar, so strange. The clone looked at her.

"Where am I?", he asked stupidly.

"You really don't know?"

"No...actually I know nothing..."

"So, what _do_ you know?"

"I-I...I know that...I have no idea."

Liz felt tears coming into her eyes. It was Tilian, it was his voice, it were his eyes. But it wasn't his character. He couldn't remember anything. Not even her. "What's your name?", she asked with a shaking voice.

He stared into her eyes. "I am...I...I don't know." He breathed out and closed his eyes. "I know nothing at all!"

"Really nothing?" Liz took his hand gently. He sighed and shook his head.

"Tell me about it. Do you know me? And who are you? Where are we?"

She swallowed dryly. "Yeah, I know you...very well, I have to say. Your name's Tilian. Don't you remember?" Again, he shook his head and asked her to go on. "I'm Eliza. But you used to call me Liz. And...we were together."

"Together?"

"Yes, we're a couple, we love each other." As he didn't reply, she continued. "We're in a town somewhere in the swamps outside Landmark City."

Tilian said nothing, he stared at the ceiling. Liz squeezed his hand slightly. "How do you feel, by the way?"

"Better." Not even a smile crossed his face, he stayed serious. _At least he still knows how to speak_, she thought. He yawned, stretched and sat up, let her hand go. With a slight smile on his face he stood up, the blanket which had covered the middle section of his body fell to the ground. Liz squinted as he took a step and looked curiously around.

As he was about to leave, Liz stood quickly up and grabbed his arm, pulling him back into the hut. "You can't go!"

"Why not?" He turned to her, looking with a pretty confused face at her. She so forced herself not to stare down at him. Blushing heavily she looked straight into his face, though there was a slight prickle in her stomach. Moreover the expression in his face was simply cute. So confused and ignorant.

"Because you're completely naked", she hissed, still staring into his face.

He raised an eyebrow and looked down his body. Liz followed his look, her head became as red as a tomato again. Tilian simply shrugged. "What's with it?"

"Some people don't like that", she explained and looked away, blushing. The heat came up into her head. "And some people don't like their boyfriends running around naked so that every girl can look at them."

"Say what?"

Liz sighed, looked at him again. And against her will her look went down his body...She cleared her throat and turned quickly away from him, ignoring the heat in her head which made her face tomato-red. _This is so not fair_, she said mentally, _he's standing there naked like it was the most usual thing in the world. And I stare at it without that he even realizes that. Now it looks like I'm taking advantage of his situation..._

She pulled some clothes out of a cupboard and threw the toga towards him. "Put that on", she said without turning around.

"This way?"

She turned to him - and blushed again as heavy as even possible. He wore the toga like a shirt, it didn't cover his hips. She walked calmly towards him and took the toga he handed over to her as he noticed he had done it wrong. She wrapped it around his hips and fixed everything with a dark blue belt. The girl breathed out slowly as she had finished.

"Thanks", he said, looking at her. "So..umm...Eliza, what's-"

"Please, call me Liz."

"Okay, Liz. Can you tell me more about me?"

"Sure", she smiled weakly. "Follow me, I'll show you the town and tell you everything you want to know."


	11. Lizard Love

**From now on there will be a bit more fluffy stuff... this is a romance after all :) :D Enjoy! And please review! Means a lot to me :))**

**There may be a few other mistakes. Ignore them, okay? :D Life is too short to be angry about small things :)**

Lizard Love

Some days passed. Slowly Tilian could remember some things. He remembered who he was and where he came from. But he still knew nothing about Liz or the village. Or how this all had started. Liz let him walk around the village alone, he said he wanted to be alone to think about some things. While he did so, she went to Juan and sat down in his workshop.

"What's up, Lizzie?"

"First, don't call me Lizzie. And second...You know about the thing with Tilian, don't you?"

He looked at her. "Who doesn't? What happened?"

Liz sighed. "He doesn't remember me. And he doesn't remember we've been together."

"Wait, you've been together?"

"Yeah, it wasn't for long...Right after he gave me the flower some freaks appeared and brought us to a strange place. However, he doesn't remember me!" Tears stood in her eyes.

"Then you have to make him fall for you again." Juan winked.

"How?"

"Use your charm", said the big man. "Seduce him. You're a woman, aren't you? I bet deeply in his heart he still knows that he loves you."

"Seduce him?"

"Sooner or later he'll fall for you again. Moreover...You should hurry up. I heard the leader had some plans for you when the next full moon comes. Which is tomorrow."

"Plans? What plans?"

"I just heard about it. I have no idea."

Liz sighed quietly. Then she suddenly got an idea and her face lit up. Juan looked confused at her, expecting an explanation. "I know how I'm gonna do that! Thanks for the advice, Juan!" She hugged him quickly and left the workshop, leaving a pretty confused man behind.

Later she found Tilian wandering around somewhere. She smiled at him brightly and told him to come to the waterfall after sunset. She wanted to show him something. That was all she told him. Tilian simply nodded and promised to come. Liz left with a smirk on her face. But she really hoped it would work. After all...he was a man. And she was going to use that advantage.

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In the evening Tilian waited at the waterfall. He sat down on a rock and stared at the falling water, thinking about random things. Then he remembered Liz. She had said he had loved her. When he thought about it he could hardly imagine. Liz was nice, courageous and good looking. But did _he still_ love her? What if not? What if yes? He didn't know.

Someone placed a hand on his shoulder. Being pulled out of his thoughts he whirled around, seeing Liz standing in front of him with a torch in her hands. His jaw nearly hit the floor.

Liz wore a skin-tight top which exposed much more of her chest and shoulders than her old one. It was black and fitted to the black miniskirt which didn't even reach the middle of her tighs. Around her arms and wrists were lots of golden rings, she even wore golden ear rings. Her ginger hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She smiled at him.

"Hey, Till."

"Liz? Y-You...I...I mean...umm...why...?"

"I just wanted to try a new outfit", she smirked and bent down next to him. He stared at her, simply amazed. She didn't know if it was just because he didn't knew this side of her or because he really liked it.

"So...what did you want to show me tonight?" He could manage to speak in clear sentences again. Though she thought to notice some shakes in his voice. She chuckled quietly.

Liz stared deeply into his dark red eyes. She leaned a bit towards him. "I thought you wanted to know more about our tribe."

He nodded and swallowed dryly.

"I've told you the whole story the first day you've been here. Now I'm gonna tell you again. Oh, and just by the way, you look quite good in that toga." She smirked slightly as she saw the expression in his face.

"Do you think so?" He looked away from her and studied the toga he wore. Then his eyes focused her again. He couldn't resist. Liz smiled, her beautiful face had caught his attention. His full attention.

"Umm...I-I...I just...mean y-you...", he paused shortly, "..you look beautiful tonight..."

Liz cheered and danced mentally, her heart beat faster. He seemed to like her. Now she just had to play this game a little bit longer. So she came a bit closer to him, not breaking the eye contact.

"Thanks", she whispered and squinted. "I got an idea how to bring your memory back."

"How?"

"Just trust me. Close your eyes and concentrate on the sounds around you. Then try to reach down deep inside yourself, trying to open your heart. There you'll find your answers."

He closed his eyes, though Liz thought it was hard for him to look away from her. Silence fell. Liz watched him for several moments, studied his face and stared at him. "Can you find something?"

"No, nothing."

"Let me help you. But keep your eyes closed."

She knelt down in front of him, studying his face for some more seconds. Slowly she moved forwards and pressed her lips on his own. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sat down on his lap, kissing him.

Surprised he stared at her with widened eyes, but let it happen. He closed his eyes, deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist. Liz smiled brightly and broke away from him, even though there were only centimetres between their faces.

"I love you", she whispered and kissed him again.

It was like someone had hit the light switch. Pictures appeared in front of his eyes, showing Liz being together with him, they laughed, had fun, talked, she showed him the village, made him the tattoo on his back, kissed him...and then he saw her deadly injured, tears in her face, blood on her stomach. She lay in his arms, dying. Tears came into his eyes, even as he remembered her revival.

Tilian broke the kiss and hugged Liz tightly. "Liz..." She hugged him back. "I...I remember everything...You died and came back...and then..."

Liz almost cried in joy. Comforting he hugged her, closing his eyes. "Finally", she whispered. "I feared you'd never remember all this."

"Calm down", he said quietly. "How could I ever forget that you turned me into such a softy?"

Liz looked up into his face and smiled as she saw the joking smile on his lips. "You idiot", she chuckled and fell around his neck to kiss him another time. He landed on his back, Liz on him. "You're such a dork." By now she laughed. After some time she stood up and arranged her clothes in order again. _What's to arrange there? She doesn't wear much_, he thought amused as he stood up.

"Do you remember the promise you made before you...before we started fighting against the freaks?" He looked at her, expecting an answer. "Oh, and the throw you used on Rayza was really cool, you have to show me how you did that!"

"Sure", she grinned, grabbed his shoulders, kicked his legs away and threw him off the rock into the lake under the waterfall. With a loud splash he landed in the lake, came up snapping for air.

"Not this way!", he yelled up to her.

"Tilian, Tilian", she smirked and folded her arms. "You should know me much better." Then she jumped and hit the water right next to him. Moments later she came up too, pulling him into a kiss. He broke that kiss after a minute and grinned, he pushed her head shortly under water. Snapping for air she came up and looked with widened eyes at him.

A smirk crossed her face. She based her hands on his shoulders and pushed him under water too. Tilian swam deeper and towards the ground. Liz was still on the surface, he could see her as he turned around and looked up. Behind her he came up and pushed her head down. Breathing heavily she came to the surface again and stared into his eyes.

"I didn't know you don't wear anything under your skirt", he smirked slightly. Liz blushed heavily and looked down. He burst out in laughter. "So, did you plan to-" Before he could say anything further she cut him off with a kiss.

"Since you didn't remember we were together I tried to seduce you", she smiled, staring into his eyes. "Was Juan's idea."

"It obviously worked", he admitted quietly. "It's a good feeling to fall in love twice." As she didn't expect it Tilian pushed her head under water. She came up again, looked around but couldn't see him anymore.

"Are you coming?", he yelled from the river bank over to her. Liz swam to the bank and went out of the water. He smiled at her. "Sorry, but it was really too cold in the water."

"I just wanted to suggest to go back", she smiled back. "However...what about a small campfire here to dry our clothes first?"

"Good idea."

They managed to light a fire and Tilian sat down in front of it. Liz still stood. "Turn around, please", she said. Questioning he looked at her, rose an eyebrow. "I just want to wring out my top. So it can dry faster."

"So why don't_ you _turn around?", he suggested smirking. Liz sighed and turned her back to him. She put off her top and wrung it out. Water fell to the ground and disappeared in the grass on the river bank. Tilian stared at her beautiful naked back the whole time, not noticing that he blushed slightly. As she turned around he looked quickly away. His heartbeat had fastened.

The girl lay down next to him, folded her arms behind her head and stared at the starry sky. No cloud was in sight, a nearly full moon stood at the darkblue, almost black sky. Its silky light was reflected on the surface of the lake and the waterfall. She glanced at Tilian who gazed absent-minded at something far away. In the yellow-orange light his red eyes shimmered a bit, just like his wet, ruffled ginger hair.

"What are you thinking about?", she asked.

"Nothing", he replied toneless. "Nothing at all." With a quiet sigh he laid down next to her, staring at the stars.

Was it all over now? The Mu-Team thought Liz dead, Tilian had disappeared after Lee's try to wipe his memory, too. They surely didn't think of searching him here. Why should he go here? Why should he come back to the place where Liz had lived? It would cause him even more pain. He bet that they supposed he was somewhere alone in the mountains, not knowing who he was, where he was.

At least that's what Tilian hoped. He closed his eyes and laid an arm around Liz. She clung to his warm body.


	12. Reptile Life

**Thank you, musamelody and tari, for your reviews! You're great !! **

**umm yeah, here we go again: **

Reptile Life

In the middle of the night the two walked back to the temple. Finally in their room Tilian dropped himself on his bed and sighed tiredly. Liz sat down on her own one and laid back. She stared at the ceiling.

"Do you remember I told you about that boundary between a man and woman? I mean...if you said no I'd understand...and...well...w-what I wanted to ask was...Would you like...to begin that boundary with me?"

He didn't reply. Liz sat up and looked at him, then she smiled. Tilian was already asleep and hadn't heard her. She knew he was tired, his wounds still took lots of energy from him to heal and after days of running through the area around Landmark City he was surely still tired. Even though this had happened some days ago. She got up, laid a blanket over him and kissed his cheek gently.

Afterwards she put off her wet clothes and went tiredly into her own bed. Soon she fell asleep.

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"Eliza, wake up", whispered someone into her ear. It was Juan's nephew who was usually sent by the leader. She opened her eyes and looked sleepy at him.

"What's up?" As far as she could see Tilian was still asleep. She didn't want to wake him up, so she spoke quietly.

"The leader wants to see you. Now", said the guy in a low voice. Liz nodded and told him that she wanted to come in some minutes. Quietly the guy left the room again as Liz got out of her bed. She put on her old, daily clothes (her top and the long skirt) and put off all the rings around her wrists she had forgotten to take off the day before. As she was ready she glanced one last time at Tilian and left.

In the great hall she met the old leader of the village who sat on his throne-like chair. She bowed to him. "You wanted to see me?"

"Oh, Eliza. Yeah...yeah, I would like to talk to you about something." He stood up and showed her to follow him into the small flower garden in the inner ward. There he told her to sit down on a bench. In the meantime he looked absent-minded at some flowers.

"What's the story?", she asked after some moments of silence.

The leader nodded slightly. "You're here for about a year now. Even though you managed to blend in here perfectly and know almost everything about our tribe you don't know about one important ritual. We created that ritual a lot of years ago as our tribe slowly began to die. Children missed, young women didn't get pregnant. That's a problem wich is still lasting. Moreover there have been more guys than girls born."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know the hut outside our village? It's twenty minutes far away from here by feet."

"No, never heard of it."

"It plays an important role for that ritual. When the moon is full one couple is sent up to that hut. They're gonna stay one night there together, it's some kind of a proof for their love. Also, this way we could make sure they'll do their part for our tribe's survival."

"What if the woman doesn't get pregnant? That could happen." She felt sweat on her palms.

"Usually we presume that the man is too weak to get children. Then we give the woman another one. I know this sounds cruel, and it really is, but I can't change that. I have no authority to change the old rules. Only the ancient ones of our tribe do. And they still hold on to these traditions."

The leader sighed. "After that night the couple will get a special amount of time, namely six months. Within this span of time the girl has to become pregnant. And to motivate them even more the guy is gonna be sacrificed to our gods if he failed. So the woman will have more luck because of the sacrifice the gods get."

"And...what's the point?", she asked frightened.

"That's what I wanted to tell you. This time you and the other Reptilico have been chosen."

"But the prophecy..."

"Already came true. I heard you talking to Juan about it. Obviously we translated it wrong and you've been revived, not our tribe." He sighed sadly. "However, I want you and Tilian to come to the great hall when the sun sets."

Before Liz could protest the leader walked away. She knew arguing had no sense. After some time of sitting alone on the bench she stood up and walked back to her room.

Tilian sat yawning on his bed and stretched. He wanted to get up. His sleepy eyes focused her, the smile on his face disappeared as he noticed the expression on hers. "What's up?"

"The leader talked to me. He wasn't very happy that we translated the prophecy wrong and our tribe won't be revived."

"And that's why you're looking like after ten days of rain?"

She sat down on the edge of his bed, right next to him.

"No, not really." She forced herself to a weak smile. However, it disappeared again. "He wants us to come to the great hall this evening. For some kind of ritual." She sighed.

"Ritual?" He frowned.

"We'll stay in a hut this night, outside the village. And we...have to sleep with each other."

Tilian squinted, stared at her. Confused and feeling pretty strange he did not know what to reply and simply gazed at her. Liz looked at the ground.

"And what if we don't want to?", he managed to say.

"They don't care. However, that's not the worst. We get six months and within this time I have to get pregnant. And if not, they..."

"C'mon, tell me." He laid an arm around her.

"They're gonna kill you."

He swallowed dryly. "Why?"

"They presume you're too weak to beget children, and they just need the strongest in our tribe. Moreover...here are too many men around. So one less won't make a difference." Liz laid back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "And then I'm gonna get another guy."

Tilian laid down next to her, looking into her face. "Cool, so there's no pressure", he said sarcastically. Liz turned to him, she looked straight into his eyes.

"I don't want this", she said in a low, shaking voice. "I don't want to be forced to love you. I want it to happen voluntarily."

"Then see it as some kind of voluntarily. I really have no problem with that. And if they wanna kill me...I'll run away." He chuckled quietly. "And you're coming with me. We'll try to find a new life. At least we're together then." He laid his warm hand on her belly and stroke it gently. Liz oppressed a laugh, she was ticklish.

"Ohh, forgot you're ticklish", he smirked. Before she really knew what was up she lay under him, struggling wildly, laughing and screaming. She tried to push his hands away, but he always found a place to tickle her.

"No, no Tilian! Stop this!" Her head already turned red. She laughed so hard that her belly began to ache. Tilian obviously had fun. He only tickled the sides of her chest slightly and she began to scream and laugh so hard. "Stop!"

Suddenly a guard came in, looking worried. "Everything alright?" He saw Liz lying under Tilian on his bed, his hands on her belly, she looked tired, panted, her ginger hair was ruffled and her clothes were disarranged. Both stopped, their heads spun around.

"No, everything okay", said Liz smiling. The guard disappeared again. Heavily breathing she fell back on the bed and looked up at Tilian. Her chest rose and fell fast. A smile crossed his face.

"We should go there tonight in a good mood. Moreover we have six months. And if it doesn't work, there's enough time to be depressed."

Liz smiled slightly and pulled him into a passionate kiss. "I wish I had your optimism", she whispered as he laid next to her. Tilian studied her face, simply stared into her eyes. His smile disappeared and his face turned serious again. He stood up and headed for the door. Liz sat up, staring at him confused.

"What's up?"

"I'll be right back."

With this said he left the room.

xxxxxxxxxx

Nervously Liz stood in the great hall, waiting for Tilian. She hadn't seen him the whole day, now she was worried. The shaman and the leader already waited with her in the hall, looking at the sky outside. The sun had setted, it was dark.

"Did he run away?", asked the shaman and looked at Liz. She shook her head.

"He'd never do that. I know him."

The leader sighed. "We'll not wait the whole evening. If he doesn't appear in the next ten minutes you're gonna get another partner."

Someone burst into the hall, panting heavily. Tilian based his hand on a column and held his chest. "Am...I too late?", he panted, looking up. His legs shook a bit, he could hardly stand. His wounds still weakened him. Liz helped him.

"Where have you been?", she hissed into his ear.

"Sorry", he panted and cleared his throat. "Forgot it."

She let him go at once. "How could you forget this?" He nearly fell to the floor, surprised that she had dropped him.

"I didn't forget _it_", he hissed back. "I forgot the time."

"However, you're here now, aren't you?", the leader smiled slightly. "First our shaman wants to talk to you. We'll meet at the hut."

The leader and Liz already left. Meanwhile the shaman handed Tilian a bottle of water over. "Here, I think you're thirsty." The clone took it hesitating and drank a bit, but spat it out at once, an expression of disgust on his face.

"What's that?!" He coughed.

"A traditional drink here." He took the bottle again. "Now, you know about what's gonna take place?"

"Sure. Liz told me about it."

The shaman nodded. He went over to a bench standing between two columns and picked up a small bowl. Some dark blue liquid was in it. The shaman came back to Tilian.

"You don't want me to drink _that_", he said, raising an eyebrow. "...do you?"

"No", he chuckled. "If you allow, I'd like to colour you a bit."


	13. Crocodile Skin

**Had not really the time to correct this stuff :D anyway, enjoy! And please review! :) **

**Thanks a lot, tari-001 and musamelody, for your awesome reviews! Luv ya :) **

Crocodile Skin

The leader had gone back to the village, leaving Liz alone in front of the hut. Only a torch in the ground next to her burned and spent light. She wrapped her arms around her chest. She froze. The sky was dark, a full moon shined brightly and spent a silky light. Starry was the sky. Far away an owl hooted, a gentle breeze went through the bushes around her.

Suddenly something rustled in a bush. Scared she breathed hissingly in and took a step backwards as a shadow rose out of the bush.

"Hey, calm down, it's me", said Tilian quietly and raised his hands in defence.

Liz breathed out relieved. "Why didn't you go the path?"

"I lost it in the dark", he confessed embarrassed. She looked at him. There were dark blue symbols painted on his chest and arms, two stripes on each of his cheek. Confused she raised an eyebrow.

"Nice body-paint."

"Thanks", he grinned and folded his arms. "Your shaman said it's gonna bring us luck or something."

"Where is he, by the way?" Liz looked around.

"He said from now on it is our part."

She could see that he blushed slightly. The girl smiled, then looked away and stared seriously into the darkness. He did the same and rubbed embarassed his neck. After some time he cleared his throat.

"Umm...and now?"

Liz picked up the torch and opened the door of the hut. She went in while Tilian stayed outside, not knowing what to do. "Come on!", she shouted from the inside. "Help me lighting the fire."

The clone popped his head into the hut, finding Liz kneeling in front of a fireplace. Lots of furs laid around it, making the ground comfortable to sit on it. In the round roofing was a hole for the smoke of the fire. Far away from the fire lay a staple of dry wood. Tilian laid some thick branches on the fire place and after some time they could manage to light a nice fire. Liz rammed the torch next to it into the ground.

"Do you feel that warm too?", asked Tilian after a while of sitting next to each other in silence. Liz raised an eyebrow.

"Where did you get that come-on line from?"

"That was none. I'm sweating in here."

Liz frowned and knelt down in front of him. She checked his pulse and his heartbeat. "Do you feel a slight stomach ache? Nothing big." He nodded. Liz narrowed her eyes. "Dry throat? Thick tongue? Slightly burning eyes?"

"Except that part with the thick tongue...yeah."

She growled quietly. "As I expected...did you drink anything tasting...disgusting?"

"Yeah, right after you and the leader left."

"The shaman gave it to you?"

He nodded.

"Hm...it's a drug. Nothing dangerous by the way."

"A drug?" Confused he frowned.

Liz nodded. "It's playing a trick on your hormons, specially testosteron, making-"

"Umm...I didn't want a complete biological report."

"Sorry", she smiled apologically. "Like I said, it's gonna play a trick on your hormons, making you feel more attracted to me. Um...I bet you don't want to know about the other details, do you?"

"No, no", he lifted defending his hands. "That's already enough."

"Already thought you'd say this", she smirked, looking into his face. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sat down on his lap, crossing her legs behind his back. Clinging tightly to him she moved her face closer to his own. Their noses nearly touched. Tilian almost stopped breathing.

"Love you", she whispered and kissed him passionately, closing her eyes.

xxxxxxxxx

Early the next morning Tilian was the first one who woke up. He found Liz lying in his arms, cliniging tightly to his body. A thin blanket they had found in the hut lay on them. Somewhere on the ground lay Liz' top and skirt, his toga was anywhere else.

He woke her with a kiss. As Liz was finally awake she deepened that kiss without opening her eyes and clung even tighter to him. She smiled as her green eyes focused his own red ones.

"For some reason I feel used", he said seriously. "It's like...they used us to make their tribe survive."

"Is it something bad to try to survive?"

"No, it isn't, but...dunno..."

"Calm down", she chuckled. "It also has positive sides for us, doesn't it? I mean, we're together. That's all what's counting now." Before he could reply she kissed him and rolled on top of him, lying down on his chest. He folded his arms behind his head.

"Nonetheless they used us."

"Perhaps, but that's unimportant now."

"So, what _is_ important?"

"That I have to be pregnant."

Tilian rolled his eyes. "Please. As if they'd kill me. I mean, I'm their Reptilico!"

"They would do it. No matter what you think about it. Or what I think about it." She separated from him and stood up, walking around in the hut to find her clothes. He rolled on his belly and watched her while she put on her clothes. Liz picked up his toga. A second later it landed right in his face.

"C'mon, we're outta here."

"Why the hurry?"

She shook her head jokingly. "You can manage to destroy romantic moments, you know that?" With this said she left the hut. Tilian jumped to his feet and wrapped the clothes around his waist, then he followed her.

"Hey! Wait!"

"So, what are we gonna do today?", she asked smiling as he walked next to her.

"Don't know", he replied. "But what do you think about an own house? I mean, in the temple are always so much people around us and so on. Would that be possible?"

"Sure." Liz walked on. "If you build one it is ours."

For a second he stopped, then ran to her again. "What? I _can't_ build a house!"

Liz shrugged her shoulders and smirked slightly. "No one is going to build it for us. If you want something for yourself you have to make it yourself. Even if it's something as big as a house."

"So..." He thought for a moment. "If you're really pregnant I'm gonna build a hut for us, something very big. And I promise to be finished when the baby comes."

The girl chuckled. "Alright. Promise?"

"Promise."


	14. Chameleon Ideas

**Lol, here goes another one! (sorry for fluffiness xD)**

Chameleon Ideas

She took his hand as they sat in the shaman's hut, waiting for the man to finish his job. The girl swallowed dryly, her heart beat a thousand times faster. She squeezed Tilian's hand, he smiled reassuring at her. "Don't worry", he said gently.

"You say this so easily..." Some tears stood in her eyes. "If it didn't work...you'll have to die." Her voice shook slightly as she spoke in a quiet tone to him. Tilian laid an arm around her shoulders, still smiling.

"Like I said, don't worry. I'm sure it has worked. I can sense that."

The shaman turned to them again, his face was expressionless. "If I mix it with this special liquid it will turn either red or blue. If it's red it didn't work, if it's blue you're pregnant. In less than five minutes we'll have the answer."

Silence fell for the next important moments. The shaman showed the two the bottle with the liquid, it was still colourless. Then it began to turn slightly red. Liz turned her head away and closed her eyes while Tilian still stared into the bottle.

"Hey", he said, "Look."

Liz looked into the bottle again. The liquid was blue. Light blue. Her heart stopped beating, she couldn't realize it the first moment. With a squeal of joy she fell around Tilian's neck and kissed him happily.

"I told you", he smirked, "don't worry."

"You owe me a house", she grinned and kissed him another time.

xxxxxxxx

"Nine months", he said as he stood in a clearing somewhere in the forest around the village. "You got nine months to build that house. Good luck." The clearing was acceptable. Lots of trees around, far away from the swamps and close to a creek. Not bad. Tilian had borrowed tools and everything else he needed from Juan. The dude had a room in his house full of them.

And so his work began. The clone started to calculate how much space he would need. Then he marked all the trees he wanted to cut down and walked back to the temple. With the lengths he had just found out he sat down behind a desk and started with a sketch of the hut. Two whole days he sat in front of that sketch, erasing, inserting new lengths and so on.

Liz tried to convince him to get more sleep than he thought he'd need, which wasn't much.

On the third day he lay with his head on the desk, a pencil behind his ear, his ginger hair ruffled. He snored quietly. Liz woke him worried up. "Don't you think you'd better sleep in your own bed?"

Sleepy he stared into her eyes.

"But I-"

"No, I won't let you get out of this room before you didn't get at least some hours of sleep." She placed her hands on her hips. "Or I'll force you per narkose."

"You know that I hate that stuff", he snorted. "I usually wake up in a bad mood afterwards."

"So you'd try to sleep voluntarily."

Tilian slept for the rest of the day and was thankful for it. Liz crept into his bed in the evening, clinging tightly to his body. However, early the next morning he was gone. The sketch as well.

The clone fixed the sketch to a tree and looked at it. He nodded. Grabbing an axe he walked over to the marked trees and began to cut them down. Every time after he had cut down a tree he separated the trunk from smaller branches and twigs and stapled them somewhere else. He rolled the trunk out of the way and continued with the next trees.

This work cost him one whole day. In the evening of the first day he made a fire and sat down on the soft ground, studying the sketch in his hands. He would need lots of time to finish all this alone.

Liz appeared behind him and looked over his shoulder. "How's it going?"

"Good...I think."

"You think?", she chuckled as she sat down, looking into his face. "Here. I thought you were hungry." She handed a basket with something to eat over to him. He refused absent-minded.

"Sorry, no time. If I continue this night I could be able to start with the foundation in two days..."

"You can't continue tonight. You need to sleep."

"I slept the whole day. Moreover I need to keep my promise."

xxxxxxxx

He continued and spent lots of time with his work. Rarely he came back to the village, Liz usually brought him some victuals in the evenings. But her visits became more rare as well. It was too hard for her to go the whole way from the village to their _house_ all alone. She was pregnant. And began to notice it. Tilian hadn't lots of time for her and he honestly regretted that.

But he always told her he had to keep his promise. And he was doing it just for her. So Liz accepted his decisions and watched him most of the time when she visited him. And in the meantime her belly grew. Soon Tilian had a main frame for the walls and the roofing, he worked all day.

As he was about to finish the roofing someone from the village came running to the clearing. "Tilian!", he yelled panting. "It's Liz! She-"

"What's up?" At once the clone looked up.

"She collapsed in the street! The shaman told me to take you to him!"

He dropped the tools and jumped off the roof, heading for the village as fast as he could. It wasn't good that she had collapsed. Something was definately wrong. Panting he reached the village and burst into the shaman's hut, looking around.

Liz lay on a bed, sweat on her forehead, she shook slightly. The shaman knelt next to her, checking her pulse. As Tilian came in he looked up. "What's wrong with her?" Worried he looked at Liz.

"She's infected with a very rare kind of illness."

"Can you help her?"

"No. No I can't, unfortunately. I need a special plant to create a medicine, but this plant doesn't grow anywhere around."

"What's the plant called?"

"It's the yellow flag."

_Yellow flag? Wait, I heard that before..._ Tilian's eyes widened. "Of course! I've seen a medicine in Landmark with yellow flag concentrate in it!"

"That would be already enough to heal her. But hurry up, we need it as fast as possible."

"Sure. I'll go to Landmark City at once and get that medicine." Tilian turned to Liz. "I'll be back soon", he whispered. "Don't give up until then. I...I need you." Slowly he stood up, grabbed a dark coat of the shaman and left the hut to head for the boats.

xxxxxxxxx

"I localised something in the hospital!" King sat in front of his laptop and showed the rest of the team a video of a supervision camera. It was dark in the shown room, but they could see a dark figure running around there.

"What is it?" Axel narrowed his eyes.

King took a screenshot and changed the brightness of the picture. After some modifications they could barely recognize what the picture showed. Hawk frowned. "I would say it is some kind of...green and white stuff."

"A peppermint-bonbon in the hospital?" Shark rose an eyebrow. Lioness rolled her eyes.

"It's stealing something. But what? And who could it be?"

"We know just one green thing."

"Tilian", growled Axel. "But what does he want there without his freak squad...? Let's go there and find out! Team, gear it up!"

xxxxxxxxx

"Someone broke into the Landmark City hospital", said Lee to the clones. "And from the pictures of some supervision cameras I hacked..."

"Tilian?"

"Precisely. He's still my possess, go there and get him", ordered Lee, a sharp tone in his voice. "I'll have to deal with him first."

xxxxxxxxx

_Hurry up you idiot, _he thought angry, _you already stayed too long here._ With the bottle of yellow flag concentrate in his hands he pulled the dark cape deeper into his face and hurried from one dark lane to the next one. He just needed to reach the outskirts of Landmark City where he had placed a stolen vehicle. This way he would be able to get back faster.

It started raining, lightnings flashed at the sky. The rain wettened everything, his coat was completly soaked within seconds. He felt somehow watched, looked from time to time over his shoulders. However, he never saw anyone or anything following him. Narrowing his eyes in the darkness he went on.

_Why did I leave my shoes there?!_, he cursed mentally as he ran through all the cold puddles in the lane. Barefoot, of course. But Liz needed the concentrate. If she didn't get it she would die. Again. And this time she'd not be revived. If he failed now she would die.

Tilian ran farther through the darkness, rain blurred his vision, his coat was soaked, his face full of rain drops. He froze. Nonetheless he didn't even think of making a pause. He _had_ to succeed.

_No pressure..._


	15. Intruders

Intruders

As soon as he reached the village again a feeling of relief went through him. From now on he just had to hope Liz would recover again. The rain had stopped several hours ago, the sun was setting by now. He walked straight to the shaman's hut, the bottle with the concentrate in his hands. Three days. He had needed three days to go to Landmark City and get the concentrate.

Suddenly a twig broke behind him. Tilian whirled around at once, alarmed. His heart stopped beating as he saw the freak squad standing right in front of him, slight smirks on their faces.

"Hello, Till", grinned Firekat who crouched on the ground, her tail moving fore- and backwards.

"Seems you still know this place after you lost your memory."

"I went here instinctively", replied the clone carefully. "But I won't go back, if you mean that."

"But you have to", chuckled Firekat evilly. "And we'll force you."

"I see you freaks found a new place to live." Axel Manning and his team appeared out of nowhere.

This moment couldn't have come worse for Tilian. Liz was only fifty metres behind him in a hut, needing the concentrate he held in his hands. And with the Mu-Team and Manning behind him he wouldn't even reach the hut in time. Life was full of irony. And it usually chooses the best moments to play a trick.

The clones and their originals began to fight wildly, Tilian separated from all this and took carefully some steps backwards. If he was lucky he could use this advantage to escape.

He was wrong. Axel had no opponent and followed his clone quickly. Defensive Tilian raised his hands. "I didn't do anything to you or your friends, Manning, so let me out of this!"

"No way, you belong to that freaks!"

"You don't understand, I-"

Axel didn't listen. Why should he believe his clone? So he attacked. Tilian clenched a fist. He blocked Axel's kicks and punches as good as possible, taking care of the bottle in his hands. He ducked under some attacks, avoided contact to Axel and moved backwards to get closer to the hut. Tilian growled deeply, glaring at Axel. He bared his sharp teeth.

"I have no time for this", he growled.

Suddenly Axel kicked the bottle out of his hands. The small bottle landed hardly on the ground a bit far away from them and broke into a thousand of pieces. The liquid inside floated into different directions, then disappeared in the soft ground. At once Tilian tried to save a bit of the liquid, but it was all gone now. He sank to his knees in front of the broken pieces of glass, staring at them.

"She'll die", he said quietly and closed his eyes. His heart ached terribly. He couldn't lose her another time. He would never stand this. Confused about this Axel came carefully closer. Tilian didn't even notice him. His face cramped as he thought about it again and again. "She'll die..."

"Who?", asked Axel stupidly. Tilian ignored him. The sounds of the fight behind him didn't matter to him either. It all went past him.

There was suddenly a person coming out of the shaman's hut. "Liz is now sleeping. She-" The shaman stopped as he saw all the people around the hut.

"Help me", the clone whispered weakly.

"Bring her to the waterfall", the shaman said so quietly that only Tilian could hear him. "I'll take care of them."

Tilian nodded and stood quickly up, rushing into the hut. Carefully he lifted Liz. She opened her eyes weakly and looked at him. "I knew you'd come back..."

"Quiet now", he whispered. "I'll bring you away from here. This place isn't safe anymore." With this said he broke through the thin walls of the hut and ran through the swamps, carefully carrying Liz.

As they reached the sandy river bank below the waterfall Tilian stopped and laid her gently on the ground, panting heavily. As he looked into her eyes tears came up in him. He swallowed, didn't want to cry. Gently he laid a hand on her cheek, striking it softly.

"I'm sorry", he whispered. "I failed...I failed miserably..." He closed his eyes and laid his head on her shoulder, kneeling next to her and crying quietly. It was over. He'd lose her. Forever this time.

"Get the girl!", spat Firekat. They had followed him. "She's what he desires! He'll do everything to save her!"

As Tilian heard her saying this he jumped to his feet and jumped between Firekat and Liz, protecting her.

"One step farther", he growled as he bared his teeth, "and I'll kill you." Quickly he wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"You won't", smirked Firekat. The Alpha Teens stood a bit farther away from the happenings, watching how the Mu-Team's leader fought against his own team. Slowly the clone took a few steps backwards, coming closer to Liz. He stopped as he stood over her, ready to fight.

Protective he stood over her, in fighting stance, ready to kill everyone who'd dare to attack Liz. "And I _will_ kill everyone who's coming closer", spat Tilian furiously. He looked from clone to clone and glanced shortly at Axel's team. Challenging Firekat took one step closer. Right away Tilian pulled a dagger out of a sheath he had wrapped around his tigh and lifted the weapon.

"One more step", he growled, narrowing his eyes. "I'll kill you if you dare to touch her!"

Silence. No one said a word.

"You...mean you stole the concentrate for her?" Lioness finally spoke up.

Tilian nodded. "And thanks to you, Manning, everything has been in vain!"

"I didn't know about it!"

"You didn't want to listen!" Tilian rose the dagger even higher, pointing at Axel with it. "I should stab you first for what you've done", he added in a deadly quiet tone. Suddenly he winced, began to shake, the dagger fell out of his hand and bored into the ground. The clone pulled something out of his neck and sank to his knees. He knelt over Liz, stared panting into her face.

"At least...I tried", he smiled weakly. "I'm sorry..." Tilian collapsed right next to her, closed his eyes. Firekat stood behind the two, a pistole with narkose arrows in her hands. She lowered the weapon as Tilian collapsed, a smile crossed her face. He had payed his attention to Axel and not to her in the last moments. A big mistake.

"Now it's over", she smirked.

A laser shot blasted the weapon out of her hands. Her head spun around. "You won't do anything", said Axel, his Tagblaster in his hands. She growled angry.

"You're on the lizard's side?!"

"I'm neither on your nor his side. But I won't let you take him back to Lee."

Firekat growled. "We're outta here." To everyone's surprise she and the rest of the Mu-Team left without any further fight. She had recognized their bad situation. Without Tilian they were outnumbered. The shaman and a few other men came to the river and found the group standing there.

A big man with lots of tattoos walked over to Liz and Tilian, knelt down next to them and checked Tilian's pulse. He nodded slightly and lifted Liz who had lost conscious. "Bring him into the hut too."

He laid Liz on the bed again, Tilian got another one. The shaman took care of both of them, though Tilian had just been hit by a narkose arrow. The big man came to the Alpha Teens standing in the hut, watching the steps of the shaman.

"You know him?"

"Sure, he's my clone", responded Axel. The man raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I know him", repeated Axel.

"I'm Juan, by the way. You said you know him?" Axel nodded again. "Then you don't know him very good. What you've just watched proves only a little bit of his real character."

"So?"

"You should know that love can change people a lot, even if they don't want to. They give up their old lives, start new ones...just to be together with their love. And so did Tilian. Since the first day he had been here I knew he liked her. Actually he was forced to be together with her. Because of the prophecy."

"Prophecy?" Axel frowned.

"Sit down and I'll explain everything to you."

They sat on the ground a bit farther away, Juan started explaining everything about the prophecy and so on. He told them about Tilian's stay, what he had done and experienced in this time.

"Now he's going to lose her a second time. Can you understand now why the concentrate was so important to him? If he suffers the pain another time it's going to break him. Not even the strongest man can resist the inner pain death causes. Especially when it hits the person you love most. I'm afraid he won't get over it."

"I bet losing the love _and_ the child must be quite hard", said Lioness quietly. Axel and the others looked at her.

"Child?"

"The girl's pregnant", said Juan.

"I'm such an idiot", cursed Axel and pressed his palm against his forehead. "Now it's my fault if two more people die."

Lioness placed a hand on his shoulder. "You couldn't know that."

They were interrupted by a quiet moan. Tilian woke up, placed a hand on his aching head and sat up slowly, rubbing his forehead. As he saw Liz lying on the bed next to him he got up and knelt down in front of her, taking her hand. He lowered his head, whispering words so quietly that the others couldn't understand him. Sweat stood on her forehead, Liz looked terribly weak and pale.

His whispers were broken by a toneless sob. Ignoring all the others in the hut he still knelt there, single tears fell to the ground and broke into pieces. His heart simply ached. Seeing her like this broke him. He knew she was dying. And he couldn't help her. He had failed to save her life. Now both of them were going to pay for this.

"Wake up", he said, looking into her face. "C'mon...you...you can't leave me twice...specially not now...I-I mean...I can't...I..." Running out of words he knelt on the ground, stuttering senseless words in a shaking voice. This was definately too much.

Juan stood up and placed a hand on Tilian's shoulder. The clone winced alarmed. "It would be better if you left now", said the man gently. "At the moment you can't help her."

"But-"

"No but. I can see it breaks you to see her. Go now. You should get some sleep."

"I-I can't leave her...if...I mean...when...I-I could..."

"You can't do anything for her."

After long moments of silence Tilian stood up and left the hut without even looking at Axel and the others. They could barely see he had tears in his eyes. Juan sighed sadly and sat down again.

"Even if we'd go now and try to get the concentrate, it would be too late. She needs it in the next hours or she's lost."

Absent-minded King put his hands into his pockets, looking at the ground. Then he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a small bottle with _yellow flag concentrate _printed on it.

"King!", screamed Hawk surprised. "Where did you get that from?!"

"I remember the doctor gave it to me as we asked him what had been stolen..."

"We must give her the concentrate, now!", said Axel. "Before it's too late!"


	16. Viper Hope

Viper Hope

Tilian walked up and down, helpless, almost in panic. It was a terrible, pulling feeling in his stomach causing that sickness in his throat and the burning feeling in his eyes. He swallowed dryly, breathed in and out deeply to calm down. It didn't help. He wanted to be with her, trying to do something. But he knew he couldn't. He was completely helpless.

xxxxxxx

"Someone should talk to him", King suggested as he looked out of the hut and saw Tilian walking up and down in front of the temple, ignoring the people staring at him. They knew something was up with Liz, and they understood him. So no one bothered him.

Axel frowned, though. "I'm sorry for what I've done, but I'm not gonna play the psychologist here."

Lioness placed a hand on his shoulder. "You still think that bad about him? I mean, he learned to love and that's something very special."

Axel snorted. "Sure. I bet he doesn't even want our help."

"Perhaps not, but who says he won't be grateful if Eliza is alright again?"

"So why don't _you_ talk to him?"

"With the greatest pleasure", Lioness replied and walked out of the hut, Axel stared at her till she was gone.

xxxxxxx

"Tilian?"

The clone stopped with his back turned to Lioness. He recognized her voice at once, winced a bit, surprised that one of Manning's team was talking to him. He didn't turn to her, he didn't reply.

Lioness didn't know what to say. She knew he had noticed her and was listening, though his back was turned to her. Only now she saw the tattoo on his back, showing two snakes wrapped around each other. She stared at the clear lines and the black colour for a long time in silence. After some moments Tilian turned to her, his red eyes focused hers.

Shocked about the look in his eyes she squinted. She had never thought to see him like this. Hurt. Worried. Helpless. Sad. He had changed so much that she didn't really recognize him. Just the fact that he was some kind of lizard-mutation told her that this was the real Tilian. Lioness took a deep breath in and wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say.

"I...", she paused. "Since when do you have the tattoo on your back?"

Seriously he stared at her. In such a situation Axel would have blushed perhaps, but Tilian didn't. He seemed to feel too miserable to show any other feeling.

"I got it right after I let you free." His voice was quiet, not as hissing as she was used to. Though it sounded a bit raspy.

"What do you want?", he asked as he saw her eyes. It was no aggressive question, but a calm one.

"I thought you might wanna talk."

He looked away from her and stared at the ground. "Do I look like I'd like to?"

"You really love her, don't you?" Lioness ignored his question. It had been a rethoric one anyway.

A faint smile crossed his lips, embarassed he looked at Lioness. However, he stayed serious. "You're really asking that?"

"I wanted to hear your opinion too."

"Sure I do. I mean, look at me. Because of her I'm...weak and act calmer than ever before...I even cry for her." He shrugged his shoulders slightly. "And I'm okay with all this. 'Cause I stopped comparing me with my old self."

"So what's the problem?"

"Except that she's going to die because of my failure?" He laughed ironically, trying not to remember what had happened before. "Lee's freaks are after me. And they'd even kill Liz just to get me back."

"Are you sure they'll come back soon?"

"Yeah, of course. Lee ordered them to get me, they won't give up that fast."

"You won't believe it...but I got an idea how to play a trick on them", grinned Lioness. "Afterwards you'll never hear of them again."

xxxxxxx

"I'm not gonna do that!" Axel folded his arms and stared at Lioness, surprised and also upset about her idea. Tilian stood behind her, rolled his eyes. He bent down and whispered into her ear,

"I told you he'd say no."

"C'mon Axel", she nearly pleaded, looking straight into his eyes. She knew he usually couldn't stand that look. "You could apologize this way!"

Again, Tilian interrupted. "Let him...if that fool doesn't want to help it's his problem."

"Axel, please", repeated Lioness, ignoring the clone. "Help him."

"Why don't you ask King? Li, he's my clone!"

"Say what? He's even farther than you. In contrast to you he's now together with the girl he loves and learned things you don't even know about."

Axel squinted confused, looked at Tilian, then at Lioness again.

"It's just for when the clones come back..." She took his hands and stared into his eyes. Axel blushed slightly as he stared back, not knowing what to reply. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Alright..."

Lioness fell around his neck and pressed a short kiss on his cheek, then she hugged him tightly. "Thanks."

Tilian couldn't oppress a weak smirk. "Exactly this way Liz convinced me to stay here."

"And how are you going to make the clones believe you're really dead?"

Out of the holder around his thigh Tilian pulled the dagger and showed it Axel. With an unnatural ease he played with the dagger.

"Someone who's deeply hurt and lost his love twice doesn't see any reason to continue life. So..."

Axel understood. "So you want them to believe you stabbed yourself?"

"Precisely. However, when they come _after_ Liz' death...I'm really going to stab myself. But before that I want to stay here to accompy her till she's gone." He put the dagger back into the holder. "And if you want you can kill me." Expecting an answer he looked at Axel.

"_After_ her death."

xxxxxxxx

"They're coming", said Lioness hasty as she ran back to Axel and Tilian.

They were already preparing everything. Tilian cut his palm lightly with the dagger and made the blood drop on some piece of clothes.

„Good. And now..." He gave the clothes to Axel. „Bring that to the shaman's hut and try to 'accidently' bump into that freak squad. When they stop you to find out where I am, you know what to tell them."

„And what if they wanna see your dead body?"

„What do you think why I'm wearing this stuff?" Tilian pointed at himself. With that long cape, the neat new toga and the necklaces he looked like one of the tribe's people.

„I guess you missed to explain that part", Axel huffed.

Tilian sighed irritably. „They dress the dead people this way and then bury them. This costume will accompanies the dead one into another world or something."

„That doesn't solve our problem."

Tilian massaged his temple with two fingers and tried to calm down. He was too nervous to explain everything again.

„Alright, listen up. While you try to convince them I'm dead, I'll be your plan B. I'll just lie there on that rock by the river, looking like I am going to be buried soon or something. And with a little red here and there..."

His still bleeding hand touched his chest for a second and left a dark mark on the soft textile. Because he wore a shirt this time the 'wound' in his chest wasn't visible. He grinned faintly.

„And now go!"

Axel went down the path to the shaman's hut while Lioness hid behind some bushes and Tilian walked off to the river. And as expected, Firekat showed up soon and blockated Axel's way.

„Now, what do you want here", Axel hissed, acting like he hadn't expected her. He tried to hide the clothes behind his back.

„You know what", she spat back and looked at him curiously. „Where's Tilian?"

„Not here."

„Sure." She rolled her eyes.

„Where's your freak squad anyway?" Axel got suspicious. They had to be around. Even though he couldn't see them.

„That's none of your business." Firekat crossed her arms. „So...?"

„Haven't seen him."

„You're lying. I can smell his scent in the air."

„Really? Bad nose, I suppose."

She growled at him and suddenly snatched the piece of bloody clothes away from him. She snuffled, then another growl escaped her lips.

„What happened?", she murmured in a deadly quiet tone.

Axel sighed. „Well...That girl, Eliza, died a few hours ago and he...well...he couldn't stand it and..." He pointed at the blood. „We found him in his room. Dead."

Her eyes narrowed and she frowned. Then she snuffled another time. It _was_ his blood and his scent.

„I wanted to get rid of this quickly before his funeral."

„Well well", Firekat laid her ears back. She glared at Axel. „Poor Till. Too bad it had to end this way." She gave him a look that was unreadable. „Anyway, now you'll have one less problem in your life."

And with this said she left the village.

Axel let out a deep sigh. He was glad she had accepted his story that easily. Quickly he walked back to Juan's workshop and found the rest of his team. Tiredly he entered the main room.

„And?"

„She left without asking dangerous questions. Went good so far."

„Alright."

"Why're we helping him again?", Axel asked ironically after a long pause and sat down on the ground.

"Because I pity him", Lioness simply replied.

Suddenly there was a scream, Shark jumped backwards, staring at Hawk who was covered with black tattoo ink. Angry he growled and glared at Shark, Juan scowled at both of them.

"He did it!", they shouted at the same time and pointed at each other. Juan buried his face in his right hand and sighed annoyed.

"Li, he is a clone", said Axel, coming back to the topic while King laughed so hard his belly ached. "You shouldn't pity him."

"So? Why not? He's human after all. He can feel like you and me and is not so different from you."

Axel frowned.

"Perhaps he's strong, improved and so on. Perhaps he's a good fighter like you, courageous when to deal with enemies, serious in the right situations, the perfect leader for the team. But in truth he's just as weak as you are."

"What do you mean?"

Lioness looked deeply into his eyes. "Didn't you notice the look he gave her? The way he acted, the way he spoke when we were talking about her?"

"Actually you were talking to him."

"Right. Anyway, it's no negative weakness. Just like you he seems to be shy when it comes to feelings like love; he's faithful though. With other words, he must have a real crush on her."

"Uhu...and what does it have to do with me?"

She narrowed her eyes. "It shows that you're ignorant." The Brazilian girl stood up and left the hut, Axel looked at her till she was gone. Confused he stared at Juan and King who had watched all this while Shark and Hawk had been busy with tidying up the mess.

"She's right", said the man. "You're not so different from Tilian."

"Because he's my clone!"

King shook his head. "I think I know now what he means. You have fallen in love too."

**Wow, there's some slight AxLi sneaking into this story XDD thanks for reading! **


	17. Recovered

**Wohoo, some AxelxLioness in this chap :D**

Recovered

_"I'm scared", she said quietly, clinging to him. He smiled faintly and looked at her. _

_"Of what?"_

_"I don't know...it's just that I feel so strange..." It was dark around them, she could see the dark silhouettes of trees and bushes. The sky was empty, no stars, also no clouds. There was a cold breeze. She shuddered._

_"Calm down", he said gently and laid an arm around her. "Nothing's gonna happen." _

_She closed her eyes and leaned against his shoulder, breathing out slowly. Feeling the warmth of his body calmed her down, she enjoyed it and laid an arm around his waist, clinging even tighter to him. _

_"Tilian?"_

_"Hm?" _

_"Promise you'll never leave me. Please."_

_"Of course", he smiled. "Promise." _

xxxxxxxxxx

He stood on the balcony, his arms crossed, and stared at the starry sky.

„Why aren't you with her?", someone behind him asked. Juan stepped out of the shadow and stopped next to him.

„Hm."

„She needs you."

„After all that happened?" Tilian huffed. „_I_ was the reason she's in this situation now. I'll just make it worse."

„What do you mean?" The old man was confused. He stared at the young lizard man next to him who just closed his eyes.

„I failed to get that concentrate, remember?"

„Tilian-"

Before Juan could say anything Tilian left. The man decided to let him alone and sighed. If Tilian didn't want to be around him he wouldn't be found.

xxxxxxxxxx

_The scene changed completely. Instead of standing in a dark forest with him she recognized the village now. Tilian stood protective over her, ready to fight. His hands formed fists, shaking slightly, he had bared his teeth and growled as deep as possible. Liz tried to stand up, but couldn't. She felt too weak. _

_"You shouldn't have left the hut", he whispered to her. "You're too weak."_

_"I'm not", she replied panting and sat up. _

_Shadows with yellow glowing eyes surrounded them, Tilian pulled the dagger out of the holder around his tigh, pointing with the end at the shadows. "One step closer and I'll kill you!" _

_The shadows didn't stop, their eyes focused him. "I said stop!" His voice shook. _

_Suddenly Tilian winced in pain, the dagger fell out of his hand and bored into the ground. He sank slowly to his knees, based his hands on the ground. Now he knelt over Liz and looked directly into her face. A few silver shimmering tears fell to the ground. His whole body shook badly. Liz rose slowly her hand and placed it on his cheek. _

_"I'm sorry", he panted, feeling weaker the more seconds passed. "I-I...failed again..." Tilian swallowed. _

_"You didn't", she said gently and stared into his eyes. "Please don't fall asleep..."_

_"Can't...stay awake..." _

_He collapsed and landed on her. Liz felt tears coming into her eyes. "You promised not to leave me...you promised it..." _

xxxxxxxxxxx

The next day Axel woke up and found Lioness lying in his arms. They had stayed for this night in Juan's house. He just remembered that Lioness had felt cold in the evening and had clung to him. They must have fallen asleep only moments later. Lioness opened her eyes now and looked directly into his own. She smiled slightly.

"Morning", she smirked and clung a bit tighter to him, feeling his warmth. A slight smile crossed Axel's face. He closed his eyes to enjoy this moment.

The rest of the team was somewhere else. He and Lioness laid on the ground in one big room of the house, King laid on some kind of couch, Shark and Hawk on the ground in front of the sofa.

Something soft touched his lips, intensifying the prickle in his belly. He opened his eyes and swallowed. Lioness smiled at him and pulled him into a gentle and soft kiss. A bit surprised Axel deepened it, feeling this amazing prickle and heat in his whole body.

"Lioness, I-"

She cut him off and placed a finger on his lips and made him shut up. She smiled.

xxxxxxxxxx

Juan got worried by now. He walked straight into the temple to look after Tilian. Meanwhile it was late afternoon and the clone hadn't appeared yet. So the man hoped to find him in his room in the temple. He had already tried to find him in the shaman's hut where Liz was, but he'd been wrong. Liz already felt better but was still asleep. She would be awake soon. The concentrate had really helped her.

Juan pushed the curtain aside and stepped into the wide white room. One of the two beds in there was empty. In the other one lay someone. "Tilian?"

"Mhm...", came the sleepy and annoyed reply.

"What's up? It's already after midday. Don't you want to look after Liz?"

The tired figure in the bed pulled the blanket up to his face and closed his eyes again. "No."

Juan frowned. That Tilian didn't want to look after her was quite unusual. "What's eating you?" He sat down on the other bed. Tilian's back was turned to him. The clone didn't reply.

"Had a bad dream?"

Tilian growled and confirmed Juan's suspicion. The man sighed. "C'mon, I bet it's helping Liz if you're around her."

"I don't want to go", growled Tilian enraged. "I'm sick."

"Sick of love?"

No answer. Juan sighed. "I know you wanna see her. And I want to show you something."

"And what?"

"Get up and I'll show you."

"I said I don't want to go. And I won't leave this bed for the rest of the day."

Just five minutes later Juan walked to his workshop, accompied by Tilian being in a really bad mood. Juan talked to him, tried to open a conversation, but Tilian had shutted off. He ignored everything around him, kept staring at the ground and growled quietly from time to time. The old man sighed as they stood in front of his workshop. He placed a hand on the clone's shoulder.

"Calm down. Maybe you wanna come in and drink some tea?"

"I don't need your help", hissed the clone and slapped his hand away. "Thanks anyway." He turned away and walked down the street, then disappeared somewhere between the trees and bushes.

Angry grinding his teeth he walked down the path to the spring, keeping his fast speed.

"Have a bad day, I suppose?" His head spun around and he saw Lioness leaning against a tree. She looked at him, her arms folded on her chest. Tilian ignored her and continued walking. Just some steps farther she stood next to him again, like she hadn't moved. Confused he stared at her.

"C'mon, tell me what's really buggin' you."

"If you really wanna know...it's you." He turned around, suddenly Lioness stood right in front of him. Surprised he took a step backwards and went into fighting position. He bared his teeth. Lioness stayed calm.

"Leave", hissed Tilian furiously. "And take Manning and the others with you. I don't want to see you around here anymore. This isn't your place!"

"It's yours neither."

"It is now!" His eyes narrowed. "You already destroyed enough. If Lee doesn't want me he's trying to get you. And you'll lead him directly to this place."

"Just like you led the mutants here?"

His growl turned deeper, his muscles strained. Lioness, however, didn't move and showed not any emotion. Tilian's hands formed fists, his arms shook slightly. "I want you to leave _at once_!", he spat. "And that's an order!"

She didn't react. "I'm not one of your freaks.

"Say what?! That's not important."

"Tch. You could have known about Liz by now. But I bet you really don't know anything, do you?" She laughed derisive.

"What's with her?!"

Suddenly a twig cracked behind them. Tilian whirled around, there was nothing. As he turned to Lioness again she was gone. His face darkened. "Come out you coward!", he hissed and looked furiously around. "Where are you?!" She was gone. Angry he kicked a stone away and continued his way to the spring.

xxxxxxxx

As he came back to the temple the sun had setted a long time ago. Tilian didn't want to see Liz, it already made his chest hurt when he thought about her. Seeing her deadly ill made him feel...much more vulnerable than he wanted to be. Or admitted to be. He was tired, but didn't want to sleep. He couldn't, that was sure. While he walked up the street to the temple he thought about last night.

He breathed out slowly and looked at the ground as he walked. The clone had crouched shaking on the balcony as he had wanted to get some fresh air, remembering his dream. He had sat there like a deadly hurt and vulnerable reptile, too weak to defend itself. And that's how he had felt. Helpless and weak.

Someone stood in his way, Tilian bumped into this person. Slowly he looked up and saw Axel's face. Quickly he walked past. "Sorry", he muttered quietly so that Axel nearly overheard it. His clone continued walking to the temple, ignoring the Alpha Teens and all the others who stared at him.

Finally in his room he stopped in the doorway. Someone lay in his bed. The blanket was pulled up to the person's head, he couldn't see who it was. Just that he or she had red hair.

"This isn't funny, kiddo", he said quietly, with a tone of carelessness in his voice. Juan's nephew had red hair, and one time he had played a trick on him and simply lay in his bed. But the person in the bed didn't react.

"Come on, get outta here", continued Tilian. "I just wanna sleep." He sighed and left the room, walking down the corridor. He found Juan in the hall of the temple, talking to some hunters.

"You nephew's in my room again", told Tilian the man as he walked towards him. Behind Juan appeared the red-haired guy, his nephew. Tilian's eyes widened.

"Y-You're not up there?"

The guy shook his head hesitating. "Why should I?"

Juan spoke up quickly, „I wanted to tell you that-"

"I-I...oh damn it!" Tilian whirled around at one, ignored him, nearly fell to the floor, ran up the stairs and back to his room. This time no one was in his bed. Both were empty. Pretty confused he placed a hand on his forehead. Was he getting crazy? _Perhaps I'm just too tired..._ He shrugged his shoulders and put off the toga, then he went to bed after extinguishing all the candles in the room.

_What's wrong with me? Why didn't I look after Liz in the last time? Why did I try to avoid her? She's ill, she needs me until..._ He closed his eyes in pain as he thought about it again. _She's going to die...you're trying to avoid the pain connected to it. But you cause yourself even more pain with it. You torture yourself. So stop pitying yourself and help her! You love her. You owe her this..._

He could manage to fall asleep sooner than he had expected. For some reason this night didn't turn into a nightmare. He could sleep calm, without waking up in between until the next morning.


	18. Snake Sorrow

Snake Sorrow

The first thing he noticed was that it was very warm under the blanket. Someone lay close to him in his bed, her back turned to him. He only opened his eyes a bit and recognized Liz at once. This had to be a dream, so he closed them again and clung with his belly tighter to her back. His arm was laid around her waist, he could feel her like this was real. The smell of her hair, the feeling when he touched her skin, the warmth of her body...

Sleepy his hand stroke her round belly gently, like he always did when she lay close to him. Liz moaned quietly and turned to him. He opened his eyes. This felt real. It felt too real. It _was _real! Surprised Tilian breathed fast and hissingly in, moved backwards. The bed ended, his hand slipped off the edge and he fell out of the bed, landing with his back on the floor. The blanket was pulled away from Liz.

She groaned and sat up, looking around sleepy. "Whassup?", she asked, confused. A pair of feet lay on the bed and she followed the legs until she found the one they belonged to.

"What are you doing on the ground?" She raised an eyebrow.

Tilian rubbed his aching back and groaned. "Nothing. Just fell out of the bed."

Liz lay down again and smirked slightly as she looked at his feet. She ran her fingers up and down the sole of one of them, as fast as possible Tilian pulled his feet away, sitting up.

"So you're ticklish too?" She smiled innocently. Tilian climbed into the bed again and rolled Liz on the back, then knelt over her.

"You're really alright again? And this is no weird dream?"

She chuckled. "No, it isn't a dream. And yeah, I'm through the worst." Happily he bent deeper down and kissed her, enjoying this very first kiss after such a long time. Liz deepened it at once, rose her arms and wrapped them around his neck. Jokingly he tickled the sides of her chest, her eyes widened and she burst into laughter, struggling to get free.

Again Tilian slipped off the edge of the bed and fell hardly on his back, Liz landed on him. "We really need a bigger bed, don't we?" Smirking he looked at her. Liz nodded vehemently. "And a place just for us."

"Already on it."

He kissed her, tickled her once again. Liz laughed and pushed his hands quickly away. "Not so wild", she panted worried. "Y'know, the baby...", she added in a low voice. "There's still the possibility that the illness affected the baby too and I... could lose it..."

"Don't think so negative", he smiled at her. His bad mood was totally gone. "Nothing will happen at all." Gently he kissed her neck, Liz closed her eyes. As he pressed his lips on hers again she rose her arms and wrapped them around his neck. A tear of joy ran down his cheek.

"I really thought I'd have lost you..."

"Can you give me a promise?" She stared deeply into his eyes.

"Sure."

"Promise that you'll never leave me alone."

"I'd never dare to do that. And I never will. Promise." Tilian smirked slightly.

xxxxxxxxxx

"I want you to go at once. Leave this place forever."

"And what about you?" Axel folded his arms in front of his chest.

"I'm gonna stay here, of course! What a question." Tilian rolled his eyes. "You'll never hear of me again." Liz stood behind him, studying Axel's face carefully. It was like she hid behind Tilian. Perhaps it was the fear that she could lose her child if Axel attacked and started a fight. Meanwhile she was very careful.

"Why not? If you need medicine again...?"

"I'm gonna get it somehow", growled Tilian back and folded his arms. "Moreover Liz and I will leave this place and start something on our own."

"So? Where do you go?"

"If you have a very good reason and ask the people here nicely they'll tell you." Tilian smirked. "Go now. I don't want you to be around."

"What about a _thanks_?"

Tilian laughed derisive, showing his sharp snake-like teeth. "For what? Without you I could have given her the medicine and everything would have been fine again. But because of you the bottle I got had been destroyed and you made me think she was going to die." He growled quietly. "You have no idea of the pain I suffered", he added in a low voice. "Because you thought you had to destroy the concentrate. And if your friend here didn't have had the concentrate Liz would be..."

He swallowed and tried to find the right words. "Anyway, I have to thank Lioness for her help to get rid of the mutants." He smiled at her. "Thanks."

Lioness blushed slightly and smiled back. "No problem."

"Chill out", said Axel and rose defensive his hands. "We're outta here." Axel and his team left the village right away. Tilian huffed satisfied and turned around to go back to the temple. Liz stared at the leaving teens.

"What's up?", he asked confused.

"That guy...he remembered me of you."

Tilian chuckled. "But you have to admit that I'm better looking, don't you?"

"Yep." Liz pressed a kiss on his cheek, smiling. She laid a hand on her belly and stroke it gently. Tilian lay his hand on hers, smiling as well.

**Well well...there will be an epilogue! **


	19. 19 Years Later

19 Years Later

"Liz?" Tilian's head appeared in the doorway. Liz, lighting a fire in the fire place, looked up and turned to him.

"What's up?"

"Have you seen Fabian?"

"Nope, I thought he wanted to join the hunt today", replied Liz and shrugged her shoulders. "So he should be with the others."

Tilian folded his arms and stepped in. "There is no hunt today. I asked Juan. He said they wanted to do it tomorrow instead of today." He raised an eyebrow and looked asking at her.

"I really don't know where he could be. But why should I? Till, he's no child anymore. He can take care of himself."

Tilian cleared his throat. "Oh yeah, you told me the same before he nearly killed himself last week because he accidently-"

"_Accidently_", said Liz, trying to defend her son. "C'mon, he won't get hurt or something. Remember? When you were as old as him you loved risks. He's not so different from you."

"You cannot compare us. Moreover it's different now." He grabbed the dark coat hanging on a hook on the wall and turned to leave. "I'm gonna look after him. Just to make sure."

"Where do you think could he be?"

"I have an idea. And I'm to 100 percent sure he's there."

"The border to the outskirts?"

"Exactly."

Liz smiled weakly. "Your son, as I said. He loves the risk as well. That's why he always goes there."

"Sure", Tilian answered with sarcasm. "And he's _your_ son 'cause he ignores what we forbade him." He grinned and left the hut quickly, putting on the cape. The sky outside was dark, rain ran down the cape and pattered on the hood, created puddles in the soft ground.

Tilian and Liz lived in their own house for nineteen years now. Shortly after he had finished it their son had been born. And in contrast to Liz, who's more similar to a human being than Tilian, Fabian is a full reptile too. He looked a lot like his father, except some details in his face. It was hard to see who the father and who the son was. But by now most people of the tribe could recognize who was who.

The clone, being "double" as old as Fabian, hadn't changed a lot in the last years and was with his 38 years still the same. If he had been human. However, in truth Tilian was just twenty years old. But he had been around nineteen when he had come to life, so his outward age was 38.

Before their son's birth he and Liz had begun the boundary between a man and a woman, they had married the traditional way under the spring. Liz still teased him with his appearance on that day. In the traditional clothing he had looked quite...hilarious.

Tilian reached the outskirts by boat within half an hour. The swamp had been reduced by Landmark City years ago. Now there were lots of new houses, appartments of small families and so on. The leader of the tribe feared that some day people from the city could find their village. Sooner or later they were forced to flee deeper into the swamps.

But at the moment there was a fence being the border between city and swamp.

The clone tied the boat to a tree and continued his way on a small dry path between the trees. He was sure he would find Fabian close to the fence. From time to time he sat there and watched the people of the city in their houses. Tilian had forbidden him to come there; he feared someone could see his son and try to get him. Which would attract attention to the village as well.

"You know that you shouldn't be here." Tilian climbed the tree and sat down on a wide branch next to his son. Meanwhile the rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy and a bit foggy.

Surprised to see his father Fabian smiled innocently. "No one will see me."

"You can never know about it", replied Tilian but followed his look. "What's so interesting on this place anyway?" The two of them could look at the gardens of the houses closest to the fence.

"Nothing special", answered Fabian, though he blushed slightly. "It's just interesting to see how they live. It's so different from the life we have."

"If you lived their life for a few days you wouldn't want to continue it and come back here voluntary." Tilian smirked. "Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. I stayed here for the last nineteen years."

"Be honest, you wouldn't be still here without Mum, would you?"

Tilian thought for a moment and stared absent-minded away, leaning his back against the trunk of the tree. "No, I wouldn't, you're right."

"See? I have no one holding me here except you two. I'd really love to know where the others are...I mean, there must be more of us. Why did you find someone of our species? Why isn't there anyone left now? And where do you come from originally? Even if you lived in the city you must come from somewhere with other reptiles, don't you?"

Tilian swallowed, not knowing what to say. He knew Fabian would ask him these questions one day. But he couldn't give an answer. Telling his son about who he really was and what he had done in his past was too much.

"Tell me, Dad. I wanna know. I'm no child anymore, you can tell me the truth instead of stories."

"Well..." He breathed out slowly. "There aren't any further reptiles. We're the only ones. In the whole world. And Liz and I...we didn't grow up like you did. We've been born like we were, though born is not the correct word here. We've been created."

Fabian was confused. "Tell me about it."

"I'm a clone. Nothing natural. Let me say...I'm the synthetic twin of someone who already existed as someone planned to create me. Within one single year a scientist mixed the DNA of a guy with the DNA of reptiles and created me and Liz. Liz could escape and landed here. I stayed with the scientist until I was 'finished'. I escaped the lab, but not to get free. I wanted to hunt the one down I've been created with."

"You mean you wanted to get the guy whose DNA is in you?"

"Exactly. Together with four other clones I fought the team of this guy for a long time, and one of our fights ended in this village. We ended up as prisoners, this tribe wanted me to stay here because of a prophecy."

"The one you told me about? Why you wear the tattoo on your back?"

"Yup. And since then I lived here, had learned to know your mother, got rid of the other clones and the guy's team and made them believe I was dead. So they never came back again."

Fabian looked at the houses again. He sighed. "Too bad. I'd really love to see someone else being like me."

"If I hadn't met your mother I bet I'd have thought the same too. However, you're lucky that you're alive. And without you I'd be dead by now. Believe me, sooner or later you'll find someone. Perhaps not as much a reptile as you are, but someone you love."

Fabian shrugged his shoulders and stared at the houses again. Tilian followed his look, noticing that his son stared at one special garden all the time. There was a girl, circa in his age, sitting on a couch. She was reading a book. Her dark brown hair shimmered in the light of the sun. Finally he understood.

"So, you already found someone?" For a second a smirk crossed his face, but he soon turned serious again as Fabian blushed heavily. "Forget this at once. You won't have a chance. I know these people from the city. They're afraid of everything that's new to them."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Natalie?" Axel Manning sat down next to his daughter who sat in the garden, reading a book. She looked quite similar to him with her dark brown, long hair and her blue eyes which focused him now.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing at all. I just wanted to ask you whether you could help me with the car again. Thought you wanted to have some fun too." He smirked. Natalie closed her book right away and grinned.

"Of course I want!"

One of her most favourite hobbies was tuning cars, specially her own one. And her father, being very skilled with cars, helped her most of the time. Spending time with him was wonderful for her because he only had time for her on weekends. She stood up and walked with him into the garage.

xxxxxxxxx

Tilian was already on the way back to the village, Fabian came with him.

"But Dad, I-"

"No but", interrupted Tilian. "It's just better if you don't even start to like her. And you won't go to the border anymore."

"So you want to force me to stay in the village?"

"I cannot force you, but I can prevent you from going into the city. Forget it, this isn't your world."

"But it's been yours. I just wanna see what you've seen too."

Tilian turned around, looking seriously at his son. "Fabian, listen. It is way too dangerous out there! Imagine how you'd have to hide in the city just to see some boring skyscrapers and cars and whatever! You're as noteable as a crocodile under teddy bears."

"I'll be careful!"

"You won't go into the city, and that's it! I don't want you to risk your life because of curiosity!"

"I am no child anymore! Why don't you get it?! I can make my own decisions!" Fabian growled, showing his teeth. "I want my own life!"

It was like looking into a weird mirror. Now, seeing his son being completely enraged, it was like he was staring at himself. _I want my own life_, he had said years ago. It scared him how much his son turned out to be like himself.

"I can understand you, but I don't want you to make mistakes you'll regret!" He sighed. "I...I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to you."

"Really awesome how much you trust your own son", he growled and marched past Tilian, leaving him standing in the swamps. Tilian sighed quietly and followed minutes later, walking slowly back to the house.

Liz already waited in front of the house. "What happened? Fabian didn't tell me a word and walked straight into his room."

"Let's go in first, the sun's setting and I don't wanna stay in the cold."

The two of them sat down in front of the fireplace, Liz' stared at Tilian who, a bit absent-minded, gazed into the bright and warm flames of the fire. He only seemed to notice his absent-mindedness as Liz took his hand gently. She smiled.

"What's up?"

"It's a bit difficult."

Liz chuckled. "Tell me then."

"I found Fabian at the border again. And...well, he told me about a girl..."

Her face lit up."But that's great, isn' it? Who is she? And how old?"

"Dunno, perhaps a bit younger than him. But the problem is, I don't know her. Because she lives in the city."

Liz' mood changed at once. She sighed and sadness appeared in her eyes. "Too bad..."

Tilian laid an arm around her. "I wish I could change that, but I can't do anything."

xxxxxxxxx

Fabian grabbed a dark coat and climbed out of the window, jumped on to the tree next to the house and landed on the ground silently. Carefully he looked around before he ran down the path, back to the border, through the night. He just wanted to see her one last time.

xxxxxxxxx

Natalie Manning sat in the living-room, reading her book again. Her parents, Catalina and Axel Manning, had went out for dinner. So she was alone. After some time she closed the book, laid it on the table and walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. When she sat down on the sofa again she looked out of the glass-door to the terrace and sighed.

It was already dark. She stood up, opened the door and stepped out into the night. Staring at the starry, beautiful sky she breathed in deeply, then closed her eyes for some moments. She didn't know someone was watching her.

xxxxxxxx

He was simply fascinated by her. He had broken almost every rule as he had climbed over the fence just to see her. She was just breathtaking. Now Fabian sat on a branch of a tree standing in her garden. He hadn't expected her to come out into the cold, but he was glad she had done it. Now he was as close as never before. He could recognize her eyecolour, that close he was.

It was a wonderful blue, full of light, curiosity, intelligence, courage. He could see that even in the dark because of his good eyes. His own ones were simply red, but hers were as colourful as eyes could be. He sighed quietly.

_I'm such an idiot_, he told himself, _I really fell for her..._

As he wanted to sneak a bit closer, his hand slipped off the wet branch and he fell off the tree. With a short scream of surprise he landed in the bush under the tree, moaned in pain as he hit the ground and rubbed his aching shoulder.

Natalie winced and whirled around. "Who's there?", she asked, unsecure.

Fabian kept quiet. _Well done, you fool!_

"Come out, I know you're hiding!" Natalie went into a basic Jo-Lan fighting position her father had shown her. "Three, two, ..."

"Okay, wait! Please!" Fabian stood up, rising defensive his hands. However, he had pulled the cape deeply into his face so that she couldn't see it. Natalie's eyes widened for a second, but then her muscles strained, ready to attack.

"Who are you?"

"I-I...I...my name's...Fabian", he said stuttering, not really knowing what to say. "I'm sorry, I...I didn't want to..."

Natalie relaxed a bit and took a step towards him. She sensed that he wouldn't attack her or so. "So what do you want?" She folded her arms on her chest, expecting an answer.

"I...umm...just wanted to see you..."

"Why?" She frowned.

"I dunno...I- my family is moving away from here tomorrow and I've seen you so often before...I just wanted to say good bye. Actually I'm not allowed to be here."

"Really?"

He nodded. "It's just that...I like you." Fabian smiled a bit embarrassed though she couldn't see it. "Though I don't even know your name."

She stared at him. "Natalie's my name. So why do you wear this cape? I cannot see your face. Come into the light please."

"No!", he refused at once and took a step back into the shadow, looking away. "I-I mean...I don't want to. I'm afraid you won't like me."

Natalie chuckled. "Why not? I thought you wanted to say goodbye, so...let me at least see your face." For some reason she began to like him. The way he acted was strange, but likely to her.

"If you see my face, can you promise me not to run away?"

"That's a joke, isn't it?"

He shook his head. "No, it isn't. And I won't come into the light unless you promised it."

"I promise. Though it's a strange one." She smiled at him. Fabian took a deep breath in.

Slowly he walked towards her, into the light. The cape reached his ankles, so that she could see his feet as well. Her eyes widened a bit, but she didn't say a word. Their looks met as she stared straightly into his face. The light didn't reach it completely, but she could see his red glowing eyes staring into hers. He lowered his head.

"W-What are you?" She didn't move, but seemed to be scared.

"I'm a kind of reptile", he said quietly. "However, if you're scared, I can understand that. It's no problem. I'll leave at once if you wish."

"No, stay here please", she whispered. Surprised to hear that reply Fabian looked at her, not moving. "Do you allow me to remove your cape? I want to see your whole face."

His heart beat a thousand times faster as she said this. He swallowed dryly but nodded. Natalie rose her hands slowly and was about to remove the cape as suddenly someone called her name.

"Natalie? Is that you?" Axel and Lioness were back.

Natalie whirled around. As she wanted to turn to Fabian again he was gone. "Fabian?" No reply. A bit disappointed she walked back into the house, closing the door again. Fabian crouched in the darkness and watched her until she was gone. He had blown his chance. But he'd try again, sooner or later.


	20. After Some Days

After some days

It was Friday afternoon. Natalie went with her two best friends Elena and Kisara to the swamps for a biology project. They had to find out about different insects living there. Natalie hadn't told anyone about the meeting with Fabian a few days ago, and she hadn't forgotten him. In the last days she had hoped to see him again, but he hadn't appeared.

In the swamps she sat down on a stone, the pen in her hands, a sheet of paper on her knees. Elena sat next to her on the ground, looking into a book about insects while Kisara studied a mosquito on a leave.

"Write that one down too", she said. "We didn't do it yet."

"Hey guys, do you know where we are?", asked Elena suddenly. "Didn't notice we left the path that much."

"Ell, there hand't been a path", replied Natalie. "But I don't know this area either."

An hour later they had finished and were on the way back. But they couldn't find the path. "Damn it, we lost the way!"

"Great, what now? The fog is too thick. We can't see anything."

"Awesome, we're lost in the swamps." Sarcastically Kisara snorted.

Suddenly there was a sound behind them in the bushes. The girls whirled around. "What was that?", asked Elena in a low voice. Natalie shrugged her shoulders and took, like her friends, a few steps backwards. They bumped into something standing behind them, turned around and stared into the face of a dark skinned, half-naked man with a crocodile skin laid around his shoulders. In his hand was a lance.

The three fell backwards into the mud, another warrior appeared, the lance pointed at them.

"Run!", screamed Kisara. The three of them jumped to their feet and ran away from the warriors, as fast as possible. But Natalie fell over a stone and landed in the mud again. Before she could stand up a warrior grabbed her and placed a finger on her neck so that she lost conscious.

xxxxxxxx

"That's so unfair", growled Fabian, looking out of the window. "I'm old enough to do what I want. Instead, I have to stay here because my _parents_ told me." He snorted derisive. Tilian, sitting next to him at the table, based his head on his hand and stared into the other direction.

"Whatever."

"That is exactly the problem! You don't want to listen to me!"

Tilian raised an eyebrow and looked at his son. "You're the one who doesn't wanna listen. If you did, you wouldn't be here now."

Liz interrupted the two. She smirked slightly. "Father and son. Quite interesting how similar to each other you are."

"Sure."

"Whatever."

They both replied with the same _I-don't-care-_tone in their voices.

Someone knocked at the wooden frame of the door and came in. It was one of the hunters. "Tilian? We found something you might wanna see."

Tilian nodded and followed the man out of the house and into the village. Fabian wanted to come too, but Liz held him back. "I need your help here." She smiled at him. However, Fabian sighed annoyed.

Just seconds later Tilian came back. "Fabian, come with me. I need your help."

Grinning his son jumped to his feet and left the house, lucky not to help the mother. "What is it?", he asked on their way to the village.

"A prisoner. I want you to check him while I talk to our leader. Won't last long."

"Sure."

Fabian went into another direction, to the prison. It was just a building with thick white walls standing a bit outside the village. Usually two or more guards guarded it, this depended on the prisoners. Now it was just one, as far as Fabian knew.

The guards opened the door for him and made sure the prisoner didn't escape.

xxxxxxx

Natalie woke up as someone opened the door to her prison. She squinted. As she could see correctly again she sat up, staring at the door which just opened. A shadow looked at her, the bright light coming in blinded her for a second. She closed her eyes.

"Who are you?", she asked after she had gotten used to the light. "And why am I here?"

"You have touched strictly forbidden territory", hissed Fabian. He almost sounded like Tilian. As he noticed this he cleared his throat.

Natalie frowned, recognizing the voice. "You...Fabian? Is that you?"

Confused he took a step closer. "Natalie?" He swallowed dryly and knelt down in front of her to look straight into her face. "How did you come here?"

"Your friends found me and some others in the swamps. I couldn't escape", she replied, studying his face.

Embarrassed Fabian rubbed the back of his neck. "S-Sorry 'bout that. But our territory is in great danger because the city is growing. We have to get away from here soon."

"So...you didn't lie as you told me your family would move?"

He shook his head. "Why should I lie?"

"Anyway, can I go now? Or at least leave this place? It's kinda strange to be a prisoner."

"Yeah, sure. But I need the permission of the leader and my father first. Because I'm not allowed to decide over this."

Natalie nodded. "Alright. But come back soon, don't wanna sit here alone." She smiled at him. Fabian stared into her eyes and smiled weakly back. He swallowed and felt his heart beating faster than ever before.

"I wondered...why you're not scared of my appearance", he said quietly.

"I promised not to run away", she laughed. "No, only joking. I already know you. Or at least your character. So why should I be scared of your appearance if your character is just...as friendly and kind as someone can be?"

He smiled and stood up. "Thanks", said the young man quietly. "I'm gonna get you outta here soon."

Fabian left the prison and headed for the temple. Tilian just walked out of the building.

"So? What's with the prisoner?", he asked his son.

"Umm...I...We can let her go. She's not valuable or dangerous for us. Just some lost child."

"Tell me what's really up with her. I can see you're lying."

Fabian sighed. "It's...it's the girl I showed you once. I don't want her to get hurt, okay? I...love her..."

"Although she's not dangerous for us, her parents are gonna try to find her. And then it's getting dangerous. There's nothing special on her anyway."

"There is! She likes me as the person I am. She said she liked me, she even saw me and wasn't scared! Please, give me a chance! I-I just wanna be with her. Because I feel so...alone without her. That's why I always went to the border. Just to see her."

Tilian kept quiet.

"Please! You know what it's like when...when no one gives you a chance because of your appearance! When everyone's afraid of you..."

Again, it was like he looked into a mirror. But _he_ was the father and he had to decide now. Fabian waited for his answer.

"Amorous fool", hissed Tilian and folded his arms on his chest. However, he sighed. "Do what you want. You can free her. But if she's gonna tell anyone about this village she's dead."

With this he walked away, leaving his son standing in front of the temple. Fabian cheered inside and ran back to the prison. The sun was just setting.

"I'm allowed to let you go", said Fabian as he went in, smiling. "But...umm...first I wanted to ask y-you if..."

"Wanna go out on a date?", she completed his sentence and smiled slightly. As she saw that Fabian blushed she stood up and took his hand. "Sure. How could I ever say no to such a cute reptile?"

"Y-you mean you want? I mean, I-I have-"

She laid a finger on his lips and made him shut up. "Show me your village, please. I won't tell anyone about it when I'm back home."

xxxxxxxxxx

Worried Axel and Lioness sat in the living room and waited for their daughter to come back. Natalie hadn't appeared yet. Suddenly the doorbell rang. It was Kisara, Natalie's best friend.

"Finally!", sighed Axel. "Where's Natalie?"

"She- she's still in the swamps! Some creepy dudes tried to catch us and we lost each other! As we came out of the swamps Natalie was missing!"

"The swamps? Creepy dudes?" Lioness came to Axel. "What does that mean?"

"That means this lizard has gone way too far", growled her husband and walked up the stairs. "I'm gonna go and find Natalie."

Lioness sent Kisara back home because her parents were scared as well. Then she followed Axel and found him putting on his old suit. "I know where she is", he said. "And I bet Tilian knows that too."

"Tilian? Are you sure?"

"He's the only one of such a tribe I know. And this tribe is the only one I know. She must be there."

xxxxxxxxx

Fabian showed her everything. He and Natalie enjoyed the whole evening they spent together. She was very interested in the life of the tribe and Fabian himself. Tilian watched this very suspiciously.

"I don't think it is so good that she's around him. Her parents may try to find her. And the rest of her group went back to the city. They could have told the others about-"

"Don't worry that much", smiled Liz and placed a hand on his shoulder. "He's in love, let him have his fun."

"Sure", he rolled his eyes.

"You stayed here and your strange mutant friends found you too. He's just like you." Liz stroked the back of his neck gently. He closed his eyes, a slight shudder of enjoyment ran down his back. A warm and gentle prickle raced through his belly.

"I hate it when you're doing that", he said, but smiled.

"In the last twenty years I had enough time to find your weak points", she grinned.

"I love you too." He bent down and gave her a short kiss on her lips. "Although you're still that small", he chuckled. Liz was about a head shorter than he was.

"I love you", she replied. "Although you're still such a stubborn idiot."

Jokingly he rose an eyebrow.

"But a cute one", Liz grinned. She headed for the stairs to their bedroom. On the first floor was Fabian's room too, just like a few smaller rooms. Tilian stared at her absent-mindedly.

On the first stair Liz stopped and turned to him. "C'mon, grandpa, let's go to bed."

"With the greatest pleasure", he chuckled and followed Liz up the stairs.


	21. Forever Yours

Forever Yours

"You can sleep in our house, if you like", invited Fabian Natalie on the way to his house. "I mean, it's better than the prison."

"It is", she smiled. Hesitating she took his hand and walked closer to him than before. She really liked him. And Fabian was in love with her, it was more than just obvious. The way he acted around her pleased her, though she didn't know if she loved him too.

"Here, you can take this room." He opened the door to a room next to his own. Natalie looked in and smiled at him.

"Thanks."

"No problem at all", he said, rubbed the back of his neck and looked embarrassed away. Again, he blushed. "So...good night."

Natalie pressed a short kiss on his lips. "Good night." She closed the door quietly.

For a long time Fabian stood there, staring at her closed door. The expression on his face was more than just dumb. This feeling inside him was like an electrical shock, it had went through his whole body as she had kissed him. Thinking of himself as the happiest reptile on earth he went into his own room and cheered quietly, although he'd have loved to scream out loud.

xxxxxxxx

Early the next morning Liz woke up and found herself lying in Tilian's arms. His body was comfortably warm, she clung with her back to his belly and wrapped his arm tighter around her waist. Tilian woke up and buried his face in her soft hair. Gently he kissed her neck. Absent-mindedly his hand stroked her belly gently. He always did that. Closing her eyes again Liz simply enjoyed it and let him do.

Suddenly Fabian knocked at the door and came in. "Sorry guys, but Juan is downstairs and says he wants to talk to you, Dad."

Tilian muttered something annoyed. "Yeah, sure. Tell him I'm coming in a few minutes."

"Alright." Fabian shrugged his shoulders and left. Tilian kissed Liz shortly and sat up, stretching with a yawn.

"Slowly I begin to believe that there's no day not at least one of the villagers wants something", he joked. "Last time I could sleep as long as I wanted has been...a few months ago. Guess that's the disadvantage of being one of leader's advisors"

"Aww, poor Tilly", chuckled Liz and sat up too. "Are you overtired?"

A pillow hit her face. He grinned at her. "Sure."

Liz pulled him back down. "Juan can wait", she yawned. "Wanna spend some more time with you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, closing her eyes. Tilian smiled but pushed her gently away.

"Sorry."

Downstairs Juan already waited for him. As Tilian entered the room the old man looked up and smiled. "Great to see you!"

"What's up?" Tilian oppressed a laugh. "You know I hate getting up early."

"You say this for ages now. No, it has something to do with our move next week. Did you already pack your stuff

?"

The clone sighed and sat down, offering Juan a seat at the table as well. "No, not really. Listen, I don't want to go away from here. I built this house, it's been a gift for Eliza. Means a lot to us."

"I know what you mean...everyone here feels the same way. We lived here for ages and now we have to go because of the city...But the place we're going to will be safer."

"But how long? The city is growing. We can't stop them. And sooner or later they'll even reach that place."

"No, not this one. It's deeply in the mountains. We have to leave our familiar surroundings, but we're safe there. Though we're not used to a life in the mountains and lived from hunting animals here in the swamps." He sighed sadly. "I wanted to ask you for your help. You know I'm old and alone, so could you and your family please help me to pack my stuff?"

Tilian shrugged his shoulders. "Sure. I mean, I still owe you something after you took care of Fabian when he was small." A slight grin crossed his face. "Anyway, we'll help you. That's not gonna be the problem." Absent-mindedly he looked out of the window and based his head on a hand.

"Is it because of Fabian?"

He nodded.

"Ah well...It's like with you and Liz." Juan smiled. "Just the other way round."

"As if."

"It is!" The man laughed. "Let them have their fun."

"Yeah, until her parents try to find her by sending the police", growled Tilian. "The hunters said she had friends who had been in the swamps with her. I bet they told someone about it. And as soon as Axel finds out about it, he's gonna try to find this village again because he knows I'm here."

Juan sighed and stood up. "I see...well, thanks for your help." He smiled weakly. "I better go now. See you on the last feast tonight?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Juan left the house and walked back into the village. Fabian came slowly down the stairs and looked at his father who had based his chin on his folded arms on the table. He sighed.

"So...we really have to leave?"

Tilian nodded without even looking at him.

"And...and Natalie has to go back home again?"

Another time Tilian nodded absent-mindedly. Fabian sat down at the table and looked at him. "I don't want to go", he admitted quietly. "I've been born here. It's my home."

"It's our home. We all have to go."

Liz just came into the room. "Talking about the move again?" She walked to the fire place and lit a small fire. Both Tilian and Fabian nodded. She sighed. "Well...we can't change it. However, Natalie's awake. She's just getting dressed and wanted to go out with you then, Fabian."

"Get dressed?"

He heard a sound coming from the stairs. There stood Natalie, smiling shyly at him. Fabian's jaw nearly hit the floor. With widened eyes he stared at her, not knowing what to say. Natalie had changed her clothes. Now she wore a dark skirt reaching her knees, a top which exposed lots of her shoulders and chest, her hair was open and around her wrists were some bracelets.

Tilian stood up and walked over to Liz, he laid his head on her shoulder. "You have nothing to do with it, do you?"

"Not at all", she grinned. "Let's go outside, I wanna show you something."

The two of them walked out of the house, leaving Natalie and Fabian alone.

"I...just tried to blend in more. Do you like it?" She looked down at herself. Fabian followed her look slowly.

"I-I...umm...I mean...you...look wonderful."

She blushed slightly. "Thanks."

"So...um...what are we gonna do now?"

"Can you show me the temple? It's the only building I haven't seen yet." She smiled.

"Sure." His face lit up at once. He took her hand and led her back to the village.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Alright, this is the village", said Axel as they arrived at the first houses. "Now we just have to find Tilian."

Lioness looked around. There was no one out on the streets. It was early in the morning. "There he is!" She pointed at a ginger haired, green skinned man walking to the temple.

"Tilian!", yelled Axel and ran over to him.

The guy turned confused around and stared at the two people coming towards him. They stopped right in front of him. "Tilian? Who are you and why do you want to see my father?"

The expression on Axel's face was more than just dumb. He stared at the lizard who looked pretty confused. "Woah, wait a minute! _You_ are his _son_?!"

The guy shrugged and nodded. "Yeah?"

"What are you guys doing here?", hissed a voice. Now the real Tilian walked over to his son, glaring at Axel. "I told you not to come back, Manning. Actually I should kill you for breaking this rule."

"The past always comes back to oneself." Axel folded his arms on his chest. "You know that."

Axel looked at his clone, then at the son again. The two were so similar to each other that it was hard to tell who the father and who the son was. However, Tilian was slightly taller than his son.

"What do you want?" Tilian placed himself protective in front of Fabian, his hands formed fists.

"I want my daughter back! You captured her and brought her here!"

"What are you talking about, idiot?! I didn't kidnap anyone. Perhaps she ran away from someone like you? Wouldn't be a surprise."

Axel growled and went into fighting stance. "Still so aggressive, huh? No surprise either."

"You wanna fight?!"

"I just want my daughter! Where's Natalie?!"

"Natalie?" Tilian looked rather surprised and relaxed again. "_You_ are Natalie's parents?" He looked at his son. "I told you it'd become dangerous."

Embarrassed the young one looked away. "I couldn't know that...wait, why do you know them?"

"He's my clone", explained Axel. "Though he's just a fake with bad teeth!"

"Which is better than the original!"

"So?"

Tilian bared his teeth and growled deeply.

"Stop this, guys!" Lioness placed between the two and looked seriously at Tilian. "We just want Natalie back. That's everything."

Tilian looked at her. "Well, nobody's holding her here. She's staying voluntarly." He shrugged his shoulders. "It's not my fault."

"What's up here, Fabian?" A girl walked over to Tilian's son and looked at him. Only now she noticed Axel and Lioness. "Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?"

Lioness hugged her daughter. "'Course we were worried! Kisara told us that some strange men caught you."

"I'm alright", she smiled. "And I'm kinda thankful to the hunters that they brought me here. I love this place! It's so beautiful, quiet, and all the people here are so nice!"

Tilian folded his arms. "See?"

"So you weren't forced to stay here?"

"Of course not. Fabian freed me right after I've been brought to this place. I like the village."

"Now, let's go home again, okay?" Axel looked seriously at Tilian. "Far away from this lizard. I'm not even allowed to be here."

"No, please", begged Natalie. "I want to stay here..."

"Why?" Confused her parents looked at her.

"I like the life here. The attitude of the people, their traditions...and the people itself." She smiled at Fabian who blushed slightly.

"So?"

"You don't understand! I don't want to leave this place or Fabian. I...love him...", she added quietly.

Axel's eyes widened. "You...what?! How can you love something like him?! He's a lizard!"

"Zip it, Manning", hissed Tilian. "One more word and I'll kill you right away!"

"Say what?"

"You should respect her decision", said the clone a bit calmer. "If she's in love with him, it's her problem. Not mine or yours or anyone else's."

"Dad, listen", said Natalie and interrupted. "The appearance doesn't matter, I like his character and the person he is. Please, let me stay here. I'm no child anymore and can make my own decisions."

"And what about your friends? How are we gonna tell them that you fell in love with a lizard and stayed in the swamps?"

She folded her arms. "Tell them what you want. I will stay here. And you can't force me to go back."

Axel sighed and looked at Lioness. She just nodded. He looked at his clone again. "Can we talk with you and your girlfriend first? Without the two?"

"Wife", corrected Tilian. "I'm married. And yeah, that's a good idea."

**I just added this part with Fabian and Natalie cos I wanted Axel to look dumb when he sees Tilian's son ... :D hope you liked it! And please review! **


	22. Full Moon

Full Moon

"Do you think you'll have to go back home?", asked Fabian a bit disappointed. He looked away from her. Natalie nodded slightly.

"I'm afraid so. My father is kinda overprotective, I don't think he's gonna let me here."

Fabian sighed. "I...am sorry that I was too curious and bugged you. Sorry."

"But you-"

"No", he cut her off. "It's over." _Before it even began_, he added mentally and walked quickly away from her, he lowered his head on his way.

"Fabian..."

He couldn't hear her anymore. Before she could try to follow him he disappeared between the houses.

xxxxxxxxx

"This is too dangerous!", said Axel. "She's not used to such a life."

"We're all there to help her", replied Liz. "I mean, we're a tribe and we hold together. Nobody's alone. Moreover Fabian is looking after her."

"Although I hate to say this, but it would destroy him as well as her if you took her back home. He's been watching her for months and is head over heels in love with her." Tilian based his ellbows on the table. He sat together with Liz, Axel and Lioness at the table in their house.

"What's with her life? She has friends, relatives and so on in Landmark City!"

"You can always find new friends", Tilian shrugged.

"Axel, you should respect her decision. She's already old enough", said Lioness in a low voice. "We can't hold her back from doing what she wants to."

Her husband sighed. "Well...if she really wants to stay..." Sadly he smiled at his clone. "She must know what she's doing."

Tilian nodded slightly. "Next week we're gonna move away with the tribe. To a place somewhere in the mountains. I mean, you could visit her, but it's rather difficult to get to the place. However, I hope Fabian is satisfied now. He's already done enough."

"You'd be dead without him", smirked Liz.

"I'd be alive without you", replied Tilian and poked out his tongue.

"And...you two are really married? I mean, _you _are married?!"

"Yeah, why not? Already 19 years."

"And Fabian is your only child?"

The clone chuckled. "No, 'course we have dozen of children running around here. They're just invisible."

Axel rolled his eyes.

"Did you really think I was so addicted to her?" For a second Tilian chuckled, but turned serious again." C'mon, you don't have more children either."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Natalie found him sitting at the waterfall he had shown her the day before. She sat down next to him and followed his absent-minded look. Then she studied his face.

"What's wrong with you?"

"You're really asking that?" He sighed as she shrugged her shoulders. "Everything is just so wrong. I love you but can't be together with you."

"So?"

"Huh?"

"But we can enjoy the time we still have." She sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Can't we?" Her face was very close to his own, his heart beat a thousand times faster. He was afraid she could hear it beating. With widened eyes he stared into her deep, lightblue ones. She squinted seductive and made him swallow dryly.

"I love you, Fabian", she whispered. "And I'll do everything to stay with you. I don't want to go." She closed her eyes, a tear ran down her cheek.

"Don't worry", he replied in a low voice. "We're gonna make this. Even if we had to run away from this place to be together...I'd do it at once. Because I love you and never wanna lose you."

Her watery eyes stared at him. "I'd do the same", she whispered with a shaking voice. Slowly she closed the gap between their faces and closed her eyes as their lips touched gently. He did the same and wrapped his arms around her waist. She was a bit surprised to feel his tongue was forked, but she didn't matter. Her heart hammered against the inside of her chest, almost breaking out.

A warm, comfortable feeling went through his belly, like an electrical shook this feeling found a way into every cell of his body and made him feel even more wonderful. He never wanted this moment to end. In a slow and gentle pace Natalie pushed him to the ground and laid on him.

xxxxxxxxxx

Later that day the two came back to Fabian's house, expecting their parents' decision.

"Alright", began Tilian. "We decided that it would be best to let you two do whatever you want." He smiled.

Happily Natalie fell around Fabian's neck and kissed him. Smiling he kissed her back and hugged her.

"As soon as we're in the mountains I expect you to found your own family, young man", said the clone to Fabian. "We'll live in tents for a while. 'Course you and Natalie can get your own until we started building the first houses. _And_ you have to build your own one. You're old enough to live your own life. I don't want two turtle doves in my house, understood?" A slight grin crossed his face.

"Never knew you could be kinda...friendly", said Axel confused but shrugged his shoulders.

"Family life, dude. That changes everyone."

"Now, we'd like to invite you to the festival tonight", Liz smiled at Axel and Lioness. "It's the last one before we go."

"Are you crazy?", hissed Tilian quietly into her ear. "I don't want him around."

"Chill out", Liz grinned. "Of course you can stay over night in our house. I'd be very pleased." She rammed her ellbow into Tilian's stomach.

"Yeah, whatever." He cleared his throat.

"Would be an honour to us", Lioness smiled, though Axel didn't look very pleased.

"Whatever", he muttered.

xxxxxxxxxxx

In the middle of the night Fabian and Natalie returned from the feast as the first ones. Their parents were still there. Together they went into his room. Tiredly Fabian laid down on the bed and breathed out slowly.

"It's not been the first feast I've celebrated, but this one was surely the best." He smiled.

Quietly Natalie closed the door to his room and turned to him. "It's been really interesting", she smiled back. "Like the whole evening. Perhaps it can become even more interesting."

"What do you mean?"

He expected an answer, but Natalie didn't reply. Confused he sat up and looked at her. The light of the full moon came through the window and slightly reached her knees so that the rest of her body was in the darkness. Suddenly her top fell to the ground silently. She walked towards him in a slow pace, then pulled him into a gentle kiss and sat down on his lap.

They began to kiss even more passionate, his hands ran up and down her naked back. Soon she took his hand and led it down her hip and under her skirt.

"I love you", she panted into his ear as they separated for a second to catch their breaths.

"I love you too."

**Fabian tells you to review... :D**


	23. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

A week later Axel and Lioness visited their daughter for the last time. After they had packed everything and charged carts, the village looked kind of empty. Everyone met in front of the temple, ready to leave.

"I'm gonna miss this place", said Liz quietly as she looked at their home for the last time. "We lived here for almost twenty years. Our son has been born here."

Tilian stood behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist, following her look. "I know what you mean", he sighed. "However, we have to go."

"Also I'm gonna miss the temple or the waterfall. I mean, I met you for the first time in the temple", she smiled. "And there you gave me our first kiss." She closed her eyes and leaned with her back against his chest.

In front of the temple they found Natalie, Fabian, Axel and Lioness standing a bit apart from the others. They were saying goodbye. Natalie hugged her parents with tears in her eyes. Lioness looked like she was about to cry, Axel simply swallowed and tried to smile weakly. They turned around as they saw Tilian and Liz.

"So...take care of them", Lioness wiped the tears out of her eyes and smiled at Tilian.

"Don't worry. Your daughter is in the best hands", Liz smiled and bowed to them, as it was tradition in their tribe and a way of saying good bye.

Tilian turned to Lioness. "So...thanks for everything. I didn't forget your help back then." A smile crossed his lips. "If your daughter is as nice as you, I have no worries."

Lioness blushed slightly. "No big. I was glad to help."

The clone pulled her into a tight hug. First Lioness looked a bit confused, but hugged him back hesitating. Afterwards he turned to Axel who offered him a hand. Seriously Tilian looked at him.

"You know we'll never see again. You won't see anyone of us anymore."

"I know. So...goodbye."

Tilian took his hand and embraced him as well. "Thanks for your naiv trust in Lee and your DNA", he grinned.

"Yeah, sure, was a pleasure to me", Axel replied sarcastic.

"I think we can go now, can't we?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Within a week the tribe reached the area of the mountains they had been looking for. For the first months their new village was made up of tents standing in a valley. There were lots of trees, also on the mountains and hills and this place was well hidden. There was a river in the near too.

"What about a tree house?", asked Fabian and looked up a gigantic tree with a thick trunk. "Would be kinda interesting."

Lots of other people shared this idea and built tree houses, connected to each other by footbridges. So they were in safe in case some dangerous animals were on the ground.

After a year the village was almost complete. Only a few bigger buildings like the temple were missing. But Natalie and Fabian already had their own place to live, just like Tilian and Liz. And their tree houses were not far away from each other.

To everyone's surprise Liz and Tilian had another child. It was a little girl. They named it Eowyn, which meaned "Surprise" in the old language. Happy to have another child finally Tilian took extra care of Liz and her baby. He didn't want to lose her or the child. Eowyn looked like her mother, though she was completely green.

"I have strong genes", Tilian joked, meaning his daugther's appearance.

Not much later Natalie got a child. It was a little girl with blue eyes and a normal coloured upper part of her body. Her legs and forearms were covered with reptile skin so that she looked a bit like Liz. Because she also had fiery red hair. Very soon Natalie and Fabian had a second child, a boy this time. He was much more like his father. Only a few differences in his face prevented him from looking exactly like Fabian.

Almost fourty years later, as the two little children were already adults and had their own families, Liz died in a high age. It was a peaceful ending, she simply hadn't woken up the next morning and had died in Tilian's arms.

"I love you", he had whispered into her ear the evening before. "And I never wanna lose you."

"I love you too", she had replied and kissed him gently. Both hadn't known it had been for the last time.

Tilian's own life found an end just a day later. Just like Liz he had fallen asleep. The sadness because of her death had broken him from the inside.

It was almost the same with Axel and Lioness. They both died in the same night, in each other's arms. They had never had another child than Natalie, so they had been alone.

And lots of years later, even after Natalie's and Fabian's deaths, the population of the village was normal again. There were enough children to keep them all alive. And lots of them had reptile skin. I don't think anyone of the tribe would have known about the consequences of keeping Tilian around ages ago. Because of him and Liz a new race had come to life and filled the village.

Nobody was against it, of course. They treated every reptile like a normal human being. And so the circle of life went on, so that after hundreds of years and generations almost the whole village was made up of reptile beings. In Landmark City no one got to know about this. Of course. And Fabian's wish to have more of his own species had come true after all.

**THE END**


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